It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time
by dfcfanfics
Summary: SOME SPOILERS FOR THE S3 FINALE INCLUDED, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! A week ago, the friendly relationship between Adrien, Marinette and Kagami seemed to be blossoming on all fronts. But that was a week ago. Now, Marinette is wondering what - if anything - in her life can be salvaged. Then there's a knock at her door... 12/28: Ch. 12 is up.
1. Sounding the Alarms

MiraculElse #15: It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time...

by DFC

(Timeline: Two days after the Season 3 finales.)

* * *

Chapter 1: Sounding the Alarms

* * *

Tikki hovered back and forth near the ceiling of Marinette Dupain-Cheng's room, watching her young friend lying below her, consumed with worry about her mental state.

_This is bad. This is really, really bad,_ she fretted. _Marinette is putting up a decent front for her parents, hiding away just how badly she's hurting inside. Her friends probably wouldn't be able to tell right away, either... if she had let any of them get close to her these last few days._

_The poor dear, _Tikki sighed. _I don't know if Adrien really is responding to Kagami that way, now that Kagami's made her intentions clear... they certainly _looked_ cozy, but Adrien is kind of complicated in a lot of ways. I don't know if anything other than a shotgun could pry his heart away completely from loving Ladybug._

_But right now, Marinette is just inconsolable. She's sure that she's lost any chance at Adrien. She's drowning under the weight of her responsibilities, old and new, _Tikki mused. _She'll have a lot more time to devote to other things if she's not throwing her heart and soul at Adrien, that's for sure... __but that's if she doesn't just snap at some point._

_And if she can't handle it... if she breaks down... who could we turn to next?_

_I just pray that things settle down for a little while, that we don't have any more major shocks to her system. She needs a break so she can figure out how to even approach this situation. Any of the situations she's in now!_

Tikki landed on the desk, hiding away in her favorite cubbyhole on Marinette's desk, content with knowing that this evening had been quieter than those before it. The phone calls checking on her had slowed down, Marinette had turned the ringer off on her cell so as to not acknowledge texts or callers, and she was spending this early evening lying in her bed, sulking and trying to blot the whole world out.

_Tonight... maybe we can all get some rest._

With many millennia of experience behind her, as the first Kwami to be manifested, Tikki prided herself on being a tiny fountain of wisdom and knowledge. She had seen it all at one time or another, and very little in this world could surprise her any more.

But sometimes even an ancient and wise Kwami can forget one of the fundamental rules of the universe.

When normality begins to crumble, it can happen _fast, _and before one can get their bearings...

...almost anything can happen.

* * *

For her part, Marinette wouldn't have been sure that she'd have classified what she was doing as _sulking_, exactly. A lot of other words came to her mind first.

Like _agonizing_. That was a good one. Replaying the last three days in their entirety in her head, over and over, no details spared... that qualified. What had happened with Hawkmoth and Mayura... the helplessness of watching so many important things slipping away from her.

The slow inevitability of watching Kagami and Adrien together, seeing how close their bond was becoming, knowing that she felt compelled to step aside and do what was best for both of her friends...

_Friend. _That was a word she'd be getting used to... as if she hadn't already. For better _and_ worse.

_Seething_. That was another accurate word for her current state! In her heart, she knew that she'd had more than her fair share of chances to win Adrien's heart. To declare her love for him. To just _tell him_ how she felt and at least play her cards on the table. To know that she'd tried and failed, rather than wanting to try but being too scared, again and again.

But that didn't make it any easier to watch Kagami - _her new FRIEND! _Someone she had been learning to _trust!_ Someone who _sensed_ how deep Marinette's feelings really ran! - just slide in, wait for the right opportunity, and lean in with a kiss and steal his heart away.

So _effortlessly._

_Ooooooohhh. _Marinette's hands clenched toward becoming two fists, before she made herself uncurl them._ What I could do to that girl right now..._

_STOP it!_ Marinette yelled at herself, abruptly. _She did nothing wrong and you know it._

She sighed, curling into a little ball. _I have no idea how to move forward from this. None._

_Well... maybe not NONE_, she considered. _There is a certain someone who's been there for me when I needed him lately._

_Someone who's... well... been very, very patient with me. Because he played HIS cards and didn't hesitate. He told me that I'm the melody in his head, the muse behind his music, and someone he'd like to be a whole lot closer to... if that's something that I would want._

Rolling on her back, Marinette stared at the ceiling.

_Well... do I?_

_Would it be so horrible to spend time with someone who ___does_ notice me? Who does want to be with me?_

Her phone sat in her hand, taunting her with its easy accessibility as she powered it up. _Go ahead,_ it seemed to say to her. _Make a call. _

_Change your life. _

_Take control. _

_Be brave._

Slowly, her finger swiped across its screen and unlocked it...

* * *

"Marinette?"

The voice of her mother calling her from downstairs distracted her. She shut her phone off again and went to her door. "Yeah?" she replied.

"There's someone at the door for you... one of your friends," Sabine yelled. "I think that you'll want to see her."

_Her?_ wondered Marinette, taking the stairs one at a time. _Alya, probably. Maybe Juleka, finding out just what it is I'm up to with her brother?_

Another flight down, another set of possibilities. _I think Rose noticed just how down I felt the other day. She's more perceptive than she seems. What am I going to tell her, if she's who's waiting for me and wants to talk?_

_It's_ __probably_ Alya,_ she reasoned. _I don't usually go too long without talking with her, and I have, I guess._

_Let's see if she..._ her thoughts trailed off as she reached the door. She opened it... and her jaw dropped.

"You!"

* * *

Kagami Tsurugi stood very still in the cool evening air. She was trying not to shiver, holding control over herself through force of will.

A wave of emotions slammed into Marinette's skull; rage and curiosity and revulsion and sadness all at once.

_You have got a LOT of nerve coming here, Kagami!_ thought Marinette. _Confronting me like this like we can still be friends._

_Stealing my boyfriend and stomping my heart flat and deciding to... what? Say you're SORRY? Explain why you... you..._

_No. _

_No, I am not going to be petty about this. I'm not going to yell at her because _I_ was a fool who couldn't open her mouth. He WASN'T my boyfriend. I know THAT for sure._

_I'm going to hear her out. I'm going to _make myself_ hear her out. I'm not ready to be near Adrien again yet, but she hasn't done anything wrong. And if she is here to try to salvage our friendship... I guess I owe her that much, to let her try. _

_If..._

_..._

_Why isn't she saying anything?_

* * *

"Um... hi, Kagami?" Marinette said, very quietly. "What's on your... mind?"

_Is she shivering?_ Marinette wondered. _It's really not that cold out tonight. Is she... shaking?_

_That's not good._

She looked a little closer. _She's been crying!_ Marinette realized.

"Kagami... is something wrong?" asked Marinette, the situation drawing out her natural protective streak.

At Marinette's question, Kagami's resolve broke in part. A fresh tear ran down her right cheek, and her knees began to wobble, to the point where Marinette wondered if she'd have to catch her.

"Boys... boys are _stupid,"_ Kagami declared.

* * *

Sabine looked up, startled, as four feet came running through the kitchen and headed for the stairs.

"Is everything all right?" she called as the girls dashed by, her daughter pulling her friend behind her. "Marinette?"

"_Emergency girl meeting!_" Marinette shouted down the stairs. "We've got this, thanks!"

* * *

Marinette paced back and forth across her bedroom floor, considering her unexpected visitor with a troubled mind. _This is... I've never seen Kagami like this,_ she worried. _What in the world did Adrien DO? DID he do something?_

_Should I call in the other girls? Alya, Juleka, Rose, Alix,_ _Mylène?_

_No... not yet. They know Adrien but they barely know Kagami. She's not close to a lot of people besides Adrien, and... me, I guess. I need to do this one-on-one._

"Kagami..." she began, in a low voice. "Did something happen between you and Adrien? I don't get it. The two of you looked so comfortable together these last few days... and I was sure that..."

_"Nothing_ is happening between Adrien and I any more. That's the problem," Kagami stammered. "It _was_ happening, I was so happy, and then... he shut it all off like he'd flipped a light switch."

"_What?_" gasped Marinette.

* * *

In a flash, she was on her knees, facing Kagami. Comforting her new friend was suddenly more important than any other of her worries. "Hey,_" _she whispered. "I'm here, okay? I'm not... I'm not letting you leave until we figure this out."

"I shouldn't be here," Kagami muttered. "Not after I... I..."

"Followed your heart?" asked Marinette. "Is that a crime?"

Kagami stared back, a bit astonished.

"Look," Marinette said, her eyes lowering. "I am not going to pretend that I'm not struggling with what I... _thought_ was happening. What was happening, it sounds like, and now it's not! What _happened? _Did one of you do something?"

"I don't know. I don't _know!_" she half-sobbed. "We _were_ getting so close. He seemed happy. I know I was! We were spending all our time together, we were cuddly, we were... um..."

"You can say it," sighed Marinette.

"We were kissing quite a bit... and it sure felt to me like he meant it. Everything felt so natural, so right! I mean... I've never had a boyfriend before... but it _felt_ like I had one now," Kagami continued. "And then he started being distant with me, all at once. I asked him if something was wrong... and he broke down right in front of me."

"Adrien did _that?"_

"He just said 'I can't do this,' over and over. 'I'm so sorry, I can't do this.' I couldn't believe he was saying it, so I begged him... 'why not?' And he lowered his head and he told me about 'the girl that he loves.'"

* * *

The explosion in Marinette's brain would've caused a localized earthquake, somewhere around 4.7 on the Richter scale, had her skull not contained it somehow.

* * *

"He said _WHAT?!" _

Kagami stared straight ahead, not noticing right away that Marinette's mood had shifted from concern to confused horror. "He said that there is a girl that he's in love with. Someone who has had his heart for a very long time. He thought that he could separate those feelings, start over, try to be a boyfriend and give me what I wanted... but he just couldn't. He can't tell his own heart what it really, really wants."

"You have to be wrong about this. You have to be _wrong_ about this, Kagami!" Marinette muttered, growing increasingly agitated.

"Why? What's wrong?" Kagami asked, catching her mood.

"Because he said _the exact same thing to me! The girl that he loves! _He told _me_ that the girl that he loves thinks he tells too many jokes. And I thought I knew for sure that she was _you!_"

Kagami shook her head, befuddled. "I've never said anything like that to him! I _like_ his sense of humor," she replied.

"I do, too, when he shows it... and that isn't nearly often enough. I don't _get it," _declared Marinette. "It doesn't make sense! This means one of two things..."

Marinette paced back and forth, her mental wheels spinning quickly. "Either there's some mystery girl out there... someone who's so close to Adrien that he jokes all the time around her, he's deeply in love with her, he can't love anyone _but_ her, but he's _never mentioned her to anyone else! _I've never heard him talk about another girl like that by name. Nino hasn't, or he would've told Alya and Alya would've told me for sure."

"Marinette..." Kagami interrupted, softly.

"Or he's _playing both of us!_ He's decided that he's going to string both of us along and... I don't know, be some kind of junior playboy or something? What would he get out of that? Some kind of twisted thrill?" Marinette ranted.

_"Marinette," _Kagami repeated. "I know who it is. He _told_ me who it is."

That brought Marinette to a screeching halt. "He... did?" she gasped. "It... is it someone we know? It... can't be me. It just _can't! _If it was me... I don't think you'd be here right now. I'd be the last person that you'd want to-"

"No, it's not you. I kind of wish it was," Kagami consoled her. "I know how much you've wanted him."

"_Who,_ then?"

Kagami's voice quivered slightly.

"It's _Ladybug._"

* * *

This explosion in Marinette's brain could have taken the entire south of France off the world map, had Marinette's skull not been adequate to the task of containment.

* * *

"Marinette?" asked Kagami, looking very worried. She waved her hand in front of Marinette's vacant eyes, but no one was home right now.

_I..._

_It..._

_It's not possible..._

Inch by inch, Marinette's consciousness clawed its way back to the foreground. She stared helplessly at Kagami, the tables suddenly turned, her friend now concerned for _her_ well-being.

_Adrien loves me._

_Adrien Agreste LOVES ME._

_Or... well... he loves Ladybug. I'm Ladybug. But he's never made the connection between the two of us, so... does that carry over?_

_At all?  
_

_I'd be a damned liar if I said that this didn't have me tingling all over. But the more I that think about it..._

_If Adrien was Chat Noir... then, maybe, this would make a lot more sense_, her reasoning centers argued. _Someone I've saved Paris with again and again, someone who's saved my life and I've saved his, someone I see all the time as Ladybug. That's something to build off of._

_I mean, I don't necessarily WANT Chat to be deep in love with me... as deep as he thinks he is, at least..._

That flipped a mental switch. _"Don't necessarily?" Isn't it just "__don't?"_

_STOP IT, Marinette! Get back on track. _Her brain registered Kagami's presence and what it meant, that she needed to get back to the real world shortly.

_This is awkward_, Marinette thought. _I can't... ORDER him to love Kagami. Or me! Or anyone else. That's his decision._

_But this is so FRUSTRATING because..._

Her eyes unglazed, just a bit, searching Kagami's face.

_She really is sincere about him. I know I am! He does care for both of us, in his own way; that's obvious. Either one of us would be so good for him. And he's smart enough that he ought to understand that!_

_He devastated me when he said what he did in the car that day, and I know that he saw it. So why would he do that AGAIN to someone else that he's close to? Far CLOSER to?_

_And how can he not understand that starting-and-stopping is as cruel as it gets, even if he doesn't mean it to be that way?_

"Marinette?" repeated Kagami. "What happened?"

_If this was Chat Noir saying that he was in love with me... AGAIN... I could at least understand it better. We spend lots of time side-by-side. We know a lot about each other; probably more than we should. We're partners; we have a real bond, even if it's not _that_ kind of bond. _

_But ADRIEN? I see him as Ladybug maybe once a month, at the most!_

_Crushing is one thing. I know all about how intense THAT can be. But he's going to tell us - the girl who spends five days a week beaming her love into the back of his skull, and the girl he's gotten so much closer to these last few months - that this superhero is his one true love? I've saved him a few times from Hawkmoth, but I save a lot of people. Nobody else reacts like that!_

_I flirt with him and I blush at him and I make eyes at him as Ladybug. Of course I do, because I'm ME. But is he really shallow enough to be SO IN LOVE with a girl that he barely even knows?_

_We both got rain-checked... for my OTHER SELF? For what has to be a... celebrity crush, or a daydream?_

_Oh, HELL no._

* * *

"_Marinette!_" gasped Kagami, her hands on Marinette's shoulders, wondering if shaking her gently would do more harm than good. "Are you all right? Should I get your parents?"

"N-no," Marinette replied, shaking herself out of her stream of thought. "Don't. We... we are going to take care of this _ourselves_, Kagami. Or, should I say... Ryuko."

_"WHAT?" _Kagami recoiled, visibly shocked. "Marinette, wait! I know that I let my secret slip out when I shouldn't have... but how do _you_ know that?"

"Kagami... there's a new sheriff in town. The rules have changed. And there's something that you _really_ ought to know..."

She caught Tikki in the background, watching her warily, and made her mind up before Tikki could find some way to intervene.

"Spots on!"

* * *

Next time:

* Executive decisions.

* "How can you be afraid of _anything at all_?"

* "May the best girl win... if she wants to."

* The club is now in session.

* "Did she just... _do that?"_


	2. Bows Before Bros

Chapter 2: Bows Before Bros

* * *

Kagami Tsurugi stared at the transformed Marinette Dupain-Cheng, her entire world shaken to the core. It was as if she thought she'd suffered a mortal wound, only to discover that it was a paper cut compared to what was next in line.

"You... you're LADYBUG?" she gasped.

"In the flesh."

Ladybug saw how overwhelmed Kagami was and laid her hand on Kagami's shoulder, giving her a comforting smile. "Take a breath, Kagami," she soothed her. "It's just _me_ underneath this mask."

"I know... but... I don't..." Reeling, Kagami tried to reconcile all that she now knew. "Why are you telling me this?"

"I'm... well... I want you to trust me, Kagami. I don't know that I can earn your trust any more than this," Ladybug answered. "And as you can see, it's pretty _vital information_ for this crazy situation we're in! I can tell you with _absolute certainty_ that Ladybug hasn't been in Adrien's ear telling him not to date you, and Adrien has never told Ladybug 'I'm in love with you.'"

_Tikki is going to SCREAM at me when I change back,_ Ladybug thought, _but this just feels... right. And if I'm going to carry all this responsibility, at least I get to make some executive decisions._

"Does Adrien know... no, there's no way that he could!" Kagami reasoned. "Or he'd be here right now, kneeling with an engagement ring."

"Do _not_ give me these mental images," Ladybug answered her, trying not to blush. "But usually, as Ladybug, I'm all business; I don't put on the suit and go looking for love. More like deflecting it when you-know-who feels romantic. If I'm powered up, it's to do something important."

"I don't get it," said Kagami, still off-balance. "If you're Ladybug... why are we even having this conversation? Why are you wanting to help me?"

Ladybug raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?" she asked, pulling a chair over and sitting across from Kagami, facing her. "I'd like to talk about this, if it's okay with you."

"Because _you've won. _He's in love with you, not me. All you have to do is show him what you just showed me, and he's all yours," Kagami stammered. "What am I missing?"

She watched as Ladybug's face turned thoughtful. "Because... I wouldn't want to win him that way. I don't know that it's really 'winning' at all," she began.

* * *

"I've tried... really, really hard all year to get closer to Adrien. To tell him what my feelings are for him, to be there for him in every way I can. He does respond to what I can say and do, just like I've seen him respond to you. But as myself... I can only get so far. There's a moat that I just can't cross."

"You're _Ladybug_," marveled Kagami. "How can you be afraid of just talking with him? Of anything at all?"

"Because I'm still Marinette. That never changes," Ladybug smiled. "This Miraculous doesn't change who I am or how I feel. It's... I'm not a different person when I'm like this. I have a different role to play... a job to do... and that's what's important to me when I'm Ladybug. Maybe I can dodge bullets or energy beams... but words can still hit me like a truck."

She gave Kagami a serious look. "That's why I don't want this to be any kind of competition between us. I like you, Kagami... I haven't known you for very long, but I have an idea that we could be very good friends. If we end up scratching each other's eyes out trying to win Adrien's heart, I doubt that it can happen... and it sounds like neither one of us would win, anyway."

"But he's in love with you!" insisted Kagami. "He told me that to my face."

"He's in love with the _idea_ of me, this side of me," Ladybug countered. "That might be unfair of me to say, but it seems like what's happening here! He's got a girl in his life who has Ladybug's personality - like I said, this is _me_, with the mask or not - and without the mask, he doesn't react that way. He likes me very much as Marinette, but he doesn't _love _me. And that's a problem."

"You're so compatible with him, you're so pretty, you have the kind of confidence that I _wish_ I could have, Kagami... you didn't sit around for months trying to work up the nerve to tell Adrien how you felt. You waited for me to take my turn, and when I couldn't because I was... too scared... you just _did it _and I wish I knew how you could do that so smoothly! He has every reason to fall for you instead of me, and he _still_ went back to 'I'm sorry, you're not Ladybug.'"

"There is nothing wrong with you, Marinette. Nothing at all," Kagami replied. "When I first met you, I didn't know what to think of you. It was obvious that Adrien thought you were wonderful. I could read your feelings with one look, so it surprised me when he said you _weren't_ his girlfriend! And when I saw that you weren't ready to tell him, that bothered me. I told you that day at the skating rink, "make your move," because Adrien had no idea how to react when you didn't."

"I tried. I tried to try, at least," lamented Ladybug. "That day that you two were taking the train to the big wedding... I wrote it out in a letter, how much I needed him to realize how I felt. And something got _really_ mixed up and, well..."

"_THAT'S_ what that was supposed to be!" boggled Kagami, the words bursting out of her. "Oh, my goodness, Marinette... when I looked over his shoulder and saw what the letter said, I thought you had lost your _mind!"_

"I thought I was _losing_ my mind when he handed me the bag! They were for my mentor," Ladybug replied, "and somehow the envelopes got switched. I can _kind of_ laugh about it now..."

"And he _got_ you the prescription! And... oh, no, no, _no!" _shuddered Kagami. "I am _so sorry, _I take back everything I even _thought_ about you that day!"

"It's appreciated," an embarrassed Ladybug smiled, sharing a brief laugh with her.

"But I learned pretty quickly that you have steel deep down, costume or not," Kagami continued, with a smile. "Once we started spending time together, that jumped out at me; when you believe in something, nothing can stop you. And _you're_ so pretty; you're so much prettier than I am. You care for him so much-"

"I am not. Come on, now," Ladybug protested.

"You care for him _so much_," repeated Kagami. "You show him that all the time, and believe me, he knows it. He talks about you all the time. About _both_ of you. I don't know where this weak spot comes from where you can't say it out loud."

"I was terrified that he'd say 'no.' And as it turned out... he did. To both of us."

Both girls were silent for a moment.

"So what are we going to do, Marinette?" asked Kagami, softly.

* * *

"We are going to transform, we are going to go find Adrien Agreste, and we are going to teach him a little lesson," Ladybug declared. "As tempting as it might be right now to toss him in the Seine... we're not going to go that far. We shouldn't, anyway."

At Kagami's questioning look, she continued, "Does Adrien strike you as the kind of person who would ever be cruel to someone on purpose?"

"No, he doesn't," Kagami admitted.

"I think he knows that he nearly broke you. He had to have seen it in your reaction, and I'd bet that he's in his room right now feeling horrible about it. But once is a mistake; twice is a pattern," Ladybug insisted. "He's going to get a piece of my mind about some things, for starters. Yours, too, if you like. He's going to understand the depths of what he did to you. And then we can go home and we'll see what he says next to Marinette or to Kagami, instead of Ladybug and Ryuko."

"And if he changes targets?"

"Then we'll at least know that he's doing it honestly, putting some thought into it and not just being starry-eyed. And may the best girl win, if that happens," said Ladybug. "If she still _wants_ to win."

"And do you?" asked Kagami.

Ladybug frowned slightly at that, then said, "Don't you concede yet. I'm not the one he was kissing this week."

"You're the one he's in love with," Kagami countered. "We both know that."

"What I know," sighed Ladybug, "is that he _hurt _someone, hurt a _friend _of both his and mine, _because of me_! I didn't know that's what he was doing, but that's _not okay, _even if it's more out of inexperience or ignorance than being mean. I can't sit by and watch broken hearts pile up; if that happens, everybody involved loses."

"Agreed. But what if he _doesn't_ change targets?" Kagami wondered.

* * *

Ladybug froze, as if that hadn't occurred to her in the moment. "He... kind of has to, don't you think?" she managed. "That's the main point of this."

"Does he?" Kagami's voice didn't sound accusatory at all to Ladybug's ears. "I'm serious. If he listens to us and says 'I can't help it, Ladybug, I am so completely in love with you and I can't make it stop' and gives you those eyes... what will you do?"

"I... I am going to turn and look at you to remind myself of what happened, and hope that my will isn't weak," said Ladybug, sheepishly.

"I mean it, Marinette. I want you to think about this, before you say anything rash tonight," Kagami continued. "Adrien looks into your big blue eyes and says 'I'm yours, Ladybug, if you'd have me.' He loves you. We both know that you love _him_."

"Y-yeah..."

"It would be very noble of you to say 'No, Adrien, that can't happen.' Even though that could benefit me, it bothers me a little bit that you'd even consider it," reasoned Kagami. "So I have to ask you... do you feel like you _have to_ do that?"

"I think I do," Ladybug replied, very quietly.

"Why?"

_She's willing to give him up, if I'm who Adrien truly wants,_ Ladybug realized. _I don't know that I'd expected that._

"Let me ask you something, Kagami," said Ladybug. "You're in the fencing match of your life. The prestige for the winner is enormous. Your opponent is very good, and she's also a friend of yours. This is going to challenge every bit of your abilities. And all of a sudden, just before you start, you notice... something's very wrong. Maybe their saber is shorter than yours by twenty centimeters, for some reason. Someone spilled a drink under their feet, and they're going to lose their footing."

"Or the referee ends up being a new girl who's still learning the rules and has a huge crush on one of the participants," smiled Kagami.

Ladybug blinked twice... then waved her hands in the air. "I _did my best_ that day, I promise you," she stammered, even as Kagami assured her that she was only teasing. "But my _point_ is... it's not your fault, but you have a huge advantage. You're going to win, but the match is rigged, and your opponent will be crushed when they realize that they never had a chance. Do you let the match start?"

The implication was clear to Kagami, but she left it hanging in the air. "You're the one who said she doesn't feel like this should be a competition," she parried.

"And it shouldn't be. Unless it's one where we can shake hands at the end and still be friends," Ladybug replied. "I want him so badly that I can taste it... but I don't know if I know _why_ he wants who he does. And I'd need to know that first. That it's for the right reasons."

"That, I like very much," said Kagami, with her first pure smile of the evening.

* * *

"So... should we go find a handsome young model and rough him up a bit?" Ladybug smiled. "So to speak?"

"I think that has possibilities... but I don't have a Miraculous of my own. Someone... well, _you_ brought it to me before," said Kagami. "Am I allowed to use the Dragon again now?"

"Um... Close your eyes until I tell you, okay? I can't show you _everything,_" smiled Ladybug. Once Kagami complied, Ladybug scurried to the other side of the room for a moment...

"Open them."

Kagami did... and saw Ladybug standing in front of her, a black box in her hand.

"Kagami Tsurugi... the first outing of Ladybug's Sisters Before Misters Club could use your assistance tonight," she said, stifling a giggle.

"It would be an honor," Kagami chuckled, reaching out.

* * *

"I'll be honest... I do _love _this feeling," Ryuko grinned, stretching after her transformation. "The way that the costume amplifies my every movement is just... _exquisite."_

"I know what you mean. I'm a complete klutz without it," Ladybug admitted.

"You know, I don't think you are. That day that you tried out for the Fencing team, I did see you and Adrien practicing... you are not without natural athletic talent," Ryuko corrected her. "You've never been involved in any sports?"

"I'm an Olympic champion at dropping objects and falling over things," giggled Ladybug. "That's about it."

As Ladybug reviewed her plan in her mind, her yo-yo buzzed abruptly.

"Uh-oh," she muttered. "This might have to wait... or we might have something else to do tonight."

Quickly, she opened the yo-yo and activated her communicator. "Hey, Chat. What's going on?" she asked, brightly.

"Ladybug... I'm glad I caught you transformed. I didn't know if you'd be active tonight," her partner said, sounding a bit less perky.

"I had an... errand to run. What's up? Do we have an Akuma sighting?" Ladybug continued.

"We don't. I was wondering... Um... How do I put this... Life is kind of kicking my butt right now. I had to get out of my house, and I just need to do... _something_ that'll let me turn my brain off for a while." Chat sounded very anxious, if Ladybug trusted her intuition as she listened. "If you're not busy, could I join you for a while?"

"Um..."

Ladybug thought for a moment. _Well... having him there with us WOULD help keep me honest. I don't want to go too far with this, one way or the other. Chat Noir's crush on me is public knowledge, no thanks to the LadyBlog. I doubt that Adrien would confess his love for me right in front of Chat... and I know I wouldn't weaken and fall all over Adrien in front of HIM! That would be beyond cruel._

_Though a little touch of romantic education might do Chat some good, as well..._

"Tell you what... Can you meet us by the Eiffel Tower in about ten?" Ladybug asked, mouthing _Trust me _to Ryuko silently. "A little extra company might be nice."

Chat's ears were still working fine. _"...Us?"_ he wondered aloud.

"I have someone with me right now. You'll see," grinned Ladybug, clicking her communicator off. "As for us... let's cover our tracks here, okay? Transform back with me. My mother saw you come in the front door; she'll need to see you leave with me."

"Makes sense."

The girls transformed back to their normal selves, looked at each other... and burst out in light laughter at the same time. The little thrill of the shared secrets, the unexpected intimacy between them, the surreal nature of the situation... both of them felt it in the moment, despite the pain in the air, and couldn't suppress a shared grin.

_I almost want to hug her... but she really doesn't seem like someone who does a lot of that, _Marinette smiled to herself. "So, shall we-"

With one stride, Kagami was next to her... and Marinette's eyes widened as she felt Kagami's arms wrap around her. "_Thank you_, Marinette. For so many things," she said in a quiet voice, "but especially for being kind enough just to hear me out. I don't know if I would've let me in tonight."

Marinette returned the hug, tentatively, out of reflex... then stepped back with a smile.

_I'll bet that Kagami is a lot like Adrien,_ she thought. _She really hasn't had a lot of people her own age that she's had a real connection with... so when she does make one... it's strong._

"I'm glad I did. C'mon," she gestured, and the two headed down the stairs.

"Mom? Kagami and I are going to get a little air. I'll be back soon, okay?" Marinette called to her mother as the pair dashed through the kitchen again. Kagami gave a little wave and smile as she passed by Sabine.

"Okay... just don't be out too late, okay?" Sabine called back, which Marinette acknowledged with a nod as they left.

"What was that all about?" Tom asked, sitting at the kitchen table across from her.

"A new friend of Marinette's... and Adrien's. Kagami's her name, if I heard right," mused Sabine. "I'm a little surprised to see her, because from what Marinette had told me, it sounded like she was getting a little too close to Adrien, if you know what I mean... but she showed up in tears tonight, and then just left looking happy."

Tom smiled, with a small chuckle. "Our daughter has a knack for that kind of thing, doesn't she?" he offered. "A regular Pollyanna."

"She does," Sabine agreed, sipping at her tea. _But my intuition is buzzing. I wonder just what _is_ going on about all of that..._

* * *

Next time:

* A giant flaming elephant.

* "If I point something out, can you promise that you won't get mad?"

* Things to consider before you plummet to the pavement.

* "Neither of us was lying."

* A four-word knife to the heart.


	3. You Knew The Job Was Dangerous

Chapter 3: You Knew The Job Was Dangerous When You Took It, Chat

* * *

Chat Noir was happy to be out of his house, moving fast and heading towards his Lady... but that was about all that was right in his world at that moment.

The boy underneath the mask had a pretty good poker face when it came to hiding pain inflicted upon him; pain that he'd caused others to suffer, on the other hand, was a very different story. It didn't happen very often, at least that he was aware of, but when he screwed up... boy, he could cause trainwrecks with the best of them, and it pained him greatly every time.

And his emotional derailment of that afternoon was a _doozy_.

He didn't even have to close his eyes to be haunted by Kagami's crestfallen face, tears streaming down her cheeks, ignoring his pleas to come back as she ran to her parents' car. The necessity of what he'd said and done didn't make it any easier on her - or, obviously, on him.

_So much for my first grand experiment with romance,_ Chat kicked himself mentally. _"I'm not sure about this... but maybe I CAN give it a try. Kagami really wants this. I really want to give her what _she_ wants. I can try it out, see how it feels, enjoy the fringe benefits and make her happy as long as I can, right?"_

_Adrien, you idiot._

_Idiot, idiot, IDIOT._

And it wasn't that it _hadn't _been wonderful. The cuddling, the kissing, the casual intimacy... every one of his senses had caught on fire. Every little bit had left him craving more. And it wasn't just physical; Kagami's new, deeper connection with him was as addictive as her kisses. Just looking at her smiling face, seeing her expression and knowing "this girl loves me..." It was all completely new and wonderful and frightening and _overwhelming._

No wonder that most of his classmates had been pairing off all year long! If he'd known that simple, everyday romance could be this intense, he might've tried this experiment months ago.

Except... that there was one person whose arms he knew that he _belonged _in.

A girl with a special connection with him as Chat Noir, a bond of trust and warmth and caring stopping just short of the romance that he ached for. Someone who seemed responsive to him as Adrien, too; nothing had been spoken out loud, but the way that she _looked_ at him... the nervousness he saw in her in those moments, but at no other time... the _love_ in her eyes that Chat Noir had never seen her project at anyone else quite the same way...

And _that _was the giant flaming elephant in the room.

* * *

Every second of the weekend of romance with Kagami had left him wanting more. It was an addiction beyond comparison. But that voice in his head kept whispering, then demanding, then shrieking out until it just couldn't be ignored any more:

_You're doing all of this with the wrong person. You love Ladybug! This can't work. You need to stop this before it goes too far._

And, finally... it was too much to bear.

He had tried to explain why he was the wrong guy for Kagami, how it wasn't her, it was _him._ He was in love with someone else, and he just couldn't figure out how he could take things halfway with another girl. How sorry he'd been that he'd allowed things to escalate with Kagami, how he'd let her believe that he was someone that he wasn't. How remorseful he truly was, and could they at least stay friends like they had been?

Kagami's face had told the story. He'd shattered her trust. It would take a miracle to get any of it back... ever. He'd carried her up high and then cut off her wings and watched her plummet, and there was no getting around that. He'd meant well, he'd never meant to hurt her, and stopping this before it went any further was for her own good... but what was that line about the road to Hell being paved with good intentions?

So whatever Ladybug had in mind for him this evening... she'd called for him, so he was running as fast as he could. Maybe afterwards, she could help him begin to figure out how to atone, how to try to begin to make it up to Kagami.

Ladybug was always his safe haven when he felt he had nowhere else to turn. She was his home.

Even if it seemed like she would never, ever let him actually move in.

* * *

About a quarter of the way up the Eiffel Tower, two masked young women sat side-by-side, still trying to wrap their heads around their shared situation.

"I know that you and Chat Noir are close," Ryuko ventured. "But have you two... ever..."

"No," Ladybug answered, very quickly. "But he wants to... very, very much. There are days when I feel so sorry for him, because I just _can't_. And there are days when he drives me up a _WALL_ by asking to be my boyfriend again and again and again, when he knows the answer has to be 'no.'"

"...All right, there was... _one_ time_... sort of,_" she conceded, just as Kagami was about to respond.

_"Oh?"_

"Chat Noir and I were mindwiped by an Akuma a few months ago. I don't know most of what happened next, because the Miraculous Cure wiped most of it away... but I know this much; we kissed. A _real_ kiss. Like, hands clasped, mouth-to-mouth, on my tiptoes and everything! So he thinks that proves that we're perfect soulmates," allowed Ladybug. "But once we got our memories back, I saw the picture Alya took of that kiss and I _freaked out!_ He _knows_ that I haven't changed my mind. And as long as I'm Ladybug, I can't... even if I wanted to."

"I don't know that much about him, but he's seemed very nice when I've met him," said Ryuko. "Charming, in a hammy kind of way. You're sure that it's a never?"

"I'm sure," smiled Ladybug. "For one thing, the Ladybug and the Cat Miraculous are what Hawkmoth and Mayura are after. Not knowing details about each other helps protect those in case one of us is compromised, and that's a huge responsibility. _Chat_ knows that, but he conveniently forgets it pretty often. And that's one reason that I shouldn't have told _you _my secret, Kagami... but Hawkmoth wouldn't expect that _you_'_d _know it, if that ever happened. And right now, as shaken up as I am and as insane as things have become, I need all the people I can trust that I can get."

"I understand completely," Ryuko said, quickly. "And I will protect it with every ounce of my strength."

"Good," Ladybug smiled. "And there's Adrien... or at least there _was_ Adrien... and while he was in my sights, I couldn't see Chat having any real chance anyway."

"Chat is... a lot more than he seems on the surface, though," Ladybug added, wistfully. "He plays up the hero thing too much, and he needs to work on how to take 'no' for an answer, but inside... his soul has _depth_. There's a real heart beating in there, and I have days where I wish I didn't have to keep breaking it."

"If I point something out, can you promise that you will try not to grow angry?" asked Ryuko, timidly.

"...Yes?" Ladybug answered, feeling a little anxious from Ryuko's tone.

"Adrien was in love with Ladybug. No one else could compare to her in his eyes. She was the only possibility for him, and I think that you and I are evidence for that. Now, you _know_ Adrien very well, so it's not quite the same as what you think that Adrien's feeling about Ladybug... but do you have blinders on, too, where no one else can exist for you?"

* * *

"...I'm not sure what to say to that," said Ladybug, after a pause. "Because you're kind of right. There is one other boy in my life besides Chat and Adrien, and unlike Adrien, he's come right out and told me that he's interested. Someone kind of like you, who knows of the Miraculous but isn't as deeply involved with them. And I... well... I haven't given him a fair chance. I just couldn't see him that way. Now... I'm at least thinking about it."

"Do you like him that way?" wondered Ryuko.

"I think I could get there," Ladybug grinned. "He's handsome, he's very gentle, he does get my motor running. He's a little older. I met him through one of my school friends."

"Good to hear..." Ryuko smiled. "Don't get me wrong! I'm not saying 'pick one of them instead and let me have Adrien!' I can see how Chat being pushy could turn you off. I tried not to push Adrien beyond what seemed reasonable... I really hope that I didn't. But knowing a girl like you, I just cannot imagine no one else being interested."

"I don't know about that. Either one _would_ be my first boyfriend ever."

Ryuko looked across at Ladybug, startled. "Wait. You, _too?"_

Ladybug looked just as startled. "What? Come on, now. I know what you said before, but someone like you, who's not afraid to go after who she wants? Who never hesitates? You have to have dated _someone _else before."

Ryuko shook her head. "I didn't! I don't really get to meet a lot of people, or spend time with them. I was worried when my mother started... _pushing_ me towards Adrien because I didn't know what he'd be like. But he's not at all what I'd expected, and he... kind of..."

"Woke you up?" asked Ladybug, who grinned when she saw Ryuko's enthusiastic nod. "Me, too! Boys weren't much of a big deal to me, and then, _wham! _This one sure was."

"Perhaps it's his cologne," Ryuko said, bringing on a fresh set of giggles from both of them.

* * *

Ladybug stretched as she waited, tucking her feet underneath her as she faced Ryuko. "Let's say that he comes to his senses and he apologizes to you, however many times he'll need to. Are you going to want to try again, after what he did the first time?"

"I don't know," admitted Ryuko. "Part of it depends on what he decides about _you_, of course. I don't want to keep watching him looking over his shoulder, pining for the girl he left behind."

Ladybug was about to respond when Ryuko added, "Either of them."

"One of them," Ladybug corrected her. "He doesn't respond to _me_ like that without my mask on."

"Now who is kidding themselves?" asked Ryuko. "Every time he looks at you, Marinette, there's a softness in his eyes. It's obvious. I didn't think I stood a chance until I saw even a hint of that pointed at me."

"After all this time," said Ladybug, sadly, "if he had any interest like that at all in Marinette... he'd have at least hinted it to _me."_

"Like you had hinted to him?" Ryuko pointed out.

"I... hinted when I needed to have shrieked. And if he had hinted, believe me, I was looking," Ladybug countered. "He could've had me with one word, you know? The way that he shut me down with 'the girl that I love' slammed that door _hard,_ and it wasn't even intentional when he did it. It was just the truth. He'd never even thought of me that way."

"He called you 'beautiful' when he saw you with your hair down the other day," Ryuko noted.

"_You_ called my hair beautiful. He just agreed with you."

"Neither of us was lying."

Ladybug blinked, but glided past that rather than address it. "And yet you're the one he was kissing."

"Was."

They both fell silent for a moment.

* * *

"You could have _him_ with two words. I'm still saying," Ryuko ventured.

"I... can't do that. I shouldn't have shown this to _you_, but it was important to me in the moment," Ladybug replied, gesturing to her costume. "And like I said earlier... if transforming is the only way that I can be his, I don't know that I'll want to be."

"Or we could just share him," smiled Ryuko...

"BAHAHAHAHA!" roared Ladybug, Ryuko joining in fast enough to show that she was in on the joke. "His head would _explode_ trying to process that," Ladybug cackled.

"Yeah," giggled Ryuko. "Mr. One True Love trying to figure _that_ out?"

When they settled back down, Ladybug came to a decision. "How about this?" she offered. "Something that we know we can agree on. Adrien is a lot of things... but he doesn't play games. He's not wired that way. If we talk to him and he keeps insisting 'I'm in love with Ladybug and no one else,' I think we can take him at his word and we can both move on, because it's just not in the cards."

"Agreed," Ryuko said. "If you're _absolutely sure_ now that you can't date him as Ladybug."

"I'm as sure as I can be, at least before I talk with him," confirmed Ladybug, to which Ryuko nodded.

"But if he does regret what he did to you, if he is sincere... we'll see that from him, too. And if that happens, we're not going to go to war over him, _and _we're not going to just roll over and fall into his arms, either. No more chasing after him. If he wants to be with either of us... he'll have to earn it. We'll decide if we want that or not... not just him."

"Absolutely," replied Ryuko, with shining eyes. "_There's_ that steel I spoke of."

A movement in the distance caught Ladybug's attention. "We can talk some more later... here comes trouble," she noted with a grin.

* * *

With a mighty leap, Chat landed on the platform where Ladybug was sitting. "Hello, my... Lady," he greeted her, trailing off when he realized who else was there. "La-DIES," he corrected himself.

His face betrayed very little, but inside, his stomach did a triple gainer.

_She's HERE?_

_SHE'S here?!_

As nonchalantly as possible, Chat walked over and sat down next to Ladybug, putting his partner between him and the new hero long enough for him to get his bearings.

_That's __KAGAMI!_ sweated Chat.

_Ladybug hadn't told me that - she just said that her choice couldn't be Ryuko any more, because she'd let her identity slip out to a villain, and therefore to Hawkmoth - but Kagami confessed it to me herself! "It doesn't matter now that I can't use the Miraculous any more, I guess, and I know that I can trust you," she'd told me. And now that I know... well, one look at her and it's obvious!_

_It's good to see that she's... well, not curled into a ball in her closet... but what is she DOING here with Ladybug?_

_Play it cool. Play it VERY VERY cool..._

"Good evening, Ryuko," he smiled, leaning forward so that she could see his toothy grin. "I'm surprised to see you here tonight... not that I am complaining at all! Ladybug, do we have some kind of emergency? Usually, we don't call in the reserves unless there's something very dangerous out there."

"It's an emergency, you could say... but not something to do with Akumas this time," Ladybug replied, solemnly. "One thing about this... new era of the Miraculous is that we are all going to look out for each other. No exceptions. If I had paid more attention, if I had been a little bit kinder or more concerned, we might have avoided..."

"Ladybug..." Chat interrupted, his voice shifting to a concerned tone immediately. "That was _not on you_. That wasn't your fault. She was being set up for a long time, we know that now, and none of us saw that."

"I _was supposed_ to see it," insisted Ladybug. "And I need to try harder. We need to be proactive, we need to keep everyone at the top of their game and be protective of each other. And that's what this is about... One of your sisters of the Miraculous has been wronged, badly. She's had her heart broken by someone I really thought I could trust."

Chat winced, involuntarily. "That's... terrible," he managed, standing up and pacing around the platform. "But...?"

"Ryuko and I are getting ready to have a little _chat_ with him. No pun intended... I wouldn't want to steal your trademark," smiled Ladybug. "His name is Adrien Agreste. If he's at home and alone tonight, he's going for a little ride with us for a few minutes."

_"Whaaaat?"_

"We're not going to throw him off a building, or punch him in the face, or anything like that. I'm not... _that _hurt," Ryuko interjected, "and we don't think he's doing any of it out of meanness. But stopping a serial heartbreaker by having a serious talk with him might keep a few Akumas from finding targets. This isn't about vengeance, it's about... we want to understand, and we want _him_ to understand."

_*THWOMP, THWOMP, THWOMP* _went Chat's heart.

"Okay! That's... a thing you could do..." Chat babbled. "Yeah. So, um... why am I here?"

"Well, for one, you wanted something to do tonight," smiled Ladybug. "But I know that you're friendly with Adrien, so I really would like you along for the ride. Someone else he's comfortable with that he won't think is coming to get him. Just watch over us, please... Make sure that we keep our cool and don't say or do anything out of line. Especially _me,"_ Ladybug explained. "Because I don't know how I'm going to react to him now that I know... what I know."

* * *

Chat's pulse suddenly felt like an overzealous drum solo at a rock concert. All it needed was his other organs standing off to the side, watching it and feigning boredom.

* * *

"What is it... that you know?" Chat asked, sitting down so he wouldn't fall down. Falling off the Eiffel Tower probably wouldn't kill him, he reasoned, but it would hurt like crazy, there might be someone walking underneath, and at the very least it would probably make the nine o'clock news and get ten million hits on YouTube.

_This could go a lot of directions that I won't like,_ he panicked. _Was I careless with my identity? Did Kagami figure it out and tell her? Is it about the breakup? Is it-_

"Chat... I need you to listen to me for a minute, okay?" Ladybug said, and in an instant she was kneeling next to him, speaking quietly. Her face looked more concerned than he'd seen it in a long while. "You and I have talked quite a bit about the other boy in my life. Every time that you've come running at me like a charging bull, wanting me to be your girlfriend and your soulmate, I've told you that there's someone else that I'm in love with. And I was never lying about that."

Helplessly, Chat nodded.

"That boy... was Adrien Agreste. He never knew how I felt about him... I'm sure of that. And I never knew how he felt. But, tonight... I just learned that Adrien has a crush on _me_."

* * *

His mask was forgotten. The presence of Ryuko didn't matter. Nothing in the world mattered except the answer to one question:

"Is... that a good thing?"

* * *

Ladybug closed her eyes.

"It would have been."

* * *

Next time:

* Staking out a bedroom window.

* "I know that you know who _she _is, Chat."

* Not all truths can be spoken aloud.

* "That goes both ways."

* "How very... _interesting!"_


	4. So THIS Is Hell

Chapter 4: So THIS is Hell

* * *

_It would have been._

_It WOULD have been._

The words echoed in Chat's ears for what seemed like an eternity... and her choice of tense was not lost on him.

"What changed?" Chat asked, slowly regaining control of himself. "I mean, what did he do that changed your mind, Ladybug?"

"He didn't do it to me... not exactly. I know that Adrien is a friend of yours, so this might not be what you'd want to hear... but there's a story that we'd like to tell you."

Reluctantly, Chat nodded.

* * *

Over the next several minutes, Adrien Agreste received far greater clarity on what one particular circle of Hell was like. Clearly, it was hearing about your own misdeeds in great detail, from someone directly affected by them, who didn't know that you were the one who was listening. Another person's pain, with your signature on it... all for you to enjoy, while in disguise.

Haltingly, Ryuko described the rise and fall of her relationship with Adrien. She made a half-hearted effort to cover her secret identity; Chat was focused enough to not disclose that he knew it already. _She ought to know that I know... but she's stressed_, he reasoned. _Hard to imagine why_.

"I'm not saying that he is completely at fault. I might have pushed too hard for him to give 'us' a try... everything felt so right, it was just impossible for me not to want it, and it felt like he did, too," Ryuko sighed. "And for two days... he did. And it was his decision to make to pull back; I can't _make_ him love me. I would not want that if I truly had to force it. But the way that everything was going so perfectly and then, out of nowhere, _zzzzzt!_"

She swung her arm out as if swiping an imaginary katana. Involuntarily, Chat checked his neck to make sure all connections were sound.

"If he truly felt like he just _couldn't_ make it work... it's not... _terrible_ that he stopped it as soon as he realized that, is it?" Chat asked, cautiously. Clearly, discretion was not just the better part of valor here; it was the whole package. "I mean... I understand _completely_ how awful it must have felt for you when he did it. There must've been... some other way... he could've avoided hurting you that much. I'd wager that he feels beyond guilty about it, but he didn't want to string you along, either."

"There's some truth to that, I will agree," Ryuko confirmed. "But if there was another way, he didn't find it. And then to find out that I'm not the first girl to whom he'd done something similar..."

Chat froze in place.

"Can... you explain that one?"

Ryuko gulped, then looked at Ladybug, who said nothing and looked away.

"You said he was a 'serial heartbreaker,' Ryuko. Who else was there?" begged Chat. _Who else COULD there be?_ he wondered, frantically.

_I... don't know if I should say this..._ thought Ryuko, _but she's not trying to stop me..._

"I fell for Adrien, he let me get to know him, and he let me get quite close to him. I felt like we were almost there as a couple... and then we _were_ there... and then he played the 'girl that I love' card and cut it off. He did nearly the _same thing_ to Marinette Dupain-Cheng," Ryuko said. "He broke her heart in half."

"Wh-_what?"_

* * *

Chat's jaw hung down in astonishment. He waited for more from Ryuko, who went silent, then turned to Ladybug, who remained staring off into the evening skyline.

_Marinette... LOVES me?_

_I BROKE HER HEART?_

"I know that you know who _she_ is, Chat," Ladybug said, barely audibly. "He didn't mean to hurt her, either. I don't think he knew... how deep her feelings really ran. But they had a... really bad mixup between them on the day we fought Puppeteer in the museum. They were there, too, as it turns out."

"She tried to confess her love to him, but she didn't think it was the real him, it's... I don't want to go into it all, but it was completely crazy how it happened. She got scared out of her wits, and she pulled back what she was saying when he questioned if she meant it," she continued, still not looking at anyone around her. "And on their way home, she heard about 'the girl that he loves' from him, and just about stumbled out of the car before it stopped moving."

Chat's brain tried to split into pieces and escape. Fragments of _how deep her feelings really ran_ and _she tried to confess her love to him _and _he broke her heart in half _and _I don't think he knew _encircled his head, like biplanes jockeying for a kill shot.

"Stop! Something isn't... she told him that she _wasn't _in love, but she really _was?_ Marinette doesn't lie," reasoned Chat. "She'd told him that before, too!"

"She doesn't lie often, no. But we all have our weak spots that overwhelm us sometimes. Things and people that we want so badly that our brains shut down and we panic and we're not ourselves. Hers has blonde hair."

"How... do you know about _any_ of that?" he asked, desperately grasping at his own thought process. "You... _neither of us_ were there."

"I know about a lot of things," noted Ladybug, in a flat tone. "And I talk to people. And I follow up with them when I see that they're in pain."

She finally turned and looked at Chat, who was clearly shaken to his core. "He didn't owe _her_ his love, either," Ladybug clarified. "And he can't be blamed for what she couldn't... for what he didn't know about, I'll give him that much. But that's two girls to whom he meant the world, two who would do anything for him, who adored him, who were nearly fighting between _each other_ for his affection for a while. And neither one ever stood a chance, because of a... daydream in red."

"That's not... I don't..." Chat stammered, knowing that his identity could be blown to shreds by the wrong words here, but also desperate to defend himself. Somehow. "Ladybug, you have to consider... this was the _love of his life_ we're talking about! You meant everything to Adrien... I'm... _really sure_ of that."

"How are you so sure of that?" asked Ryuko, quietly.

* * *

"Um..." Chat thought quickly to cover for his statement. "Do you think that he would turn down amazing girls like you and Marinette for anything _less?_ And not to put too fine a point on it..." he added, glancing at Ladybug, "but some of us know that feeling."

_"He_ never _told_ me that I was the love of his life. So there's that factor again... I didn't know. I had no idea that he could possibly feel that strongly about me. And do you know why else I didn't know?" Ladybug replied, glaring a little at Chat. "Because I'm not _Ladybug_ very often. I'm someone else most of the time. As Ladybug, I only see Adrien maybe once a month, every few weeks if I'm lucky."

"I see _you_ a lot more than that, Chat, and we still have our secrets. Adrien and I like each other - that much is obvious - but we don't have _chances_ to get to know each other better! He doesn't know my name, where I live, what I like to wear, what I like to do, so many things about me. He doesn't know me like he knows Ryuko's normal self or knows Marinette, people he has real connections with. At _all_."

"He doesn't know things that you've _never told him_, because you _can't_ tell him," argued Chat. "He doesn't know the 'real you' because you keep her hidden away, even if it is for good reasons. That works both ways, doesn't it?"

"You're right, I can't! And I can't do it tomorrow or the next day or the next day, either. And he knows that." Ladybug's voice lost most of its sternness, quivering a little. Her expression towards Chat turned more apologetic than annoyed.

"So he has me, this mystery girl, this fantasy that he 'loves' but he barely knows, really. Or he had a girl who was... who just _adored him_ and was right there next to him every day, who said with her eyes what she couldn't make her voice say. And maybe he _didn't_ realize that she was that serious about him... maybe he did! I hope he didn't."

"If he had... no. He would have let her down so much easier if he had. He's not like that; I know that he isn't." Ladybug's voice choked up a little as she added, "I am _not_ going to blame him for that part. I'm not."

Chat stared with wonder and alarm as she composed herself once more, while Ryuko watched them in uneasy silence.

_Ladybug is... REALLY bothered by that,_ Chat worried. _Are she and Marinette THAT close as friends?_

_And the way she described Marinette is... wow... I believe Ladybug... but how did I MISS IT?_

"But now... he had _another_ girl in his life, someone he could relate to better, someone talented and intelligent and gorgeous... and she wasn't terrified of rejection like Marinette was. She told him right to his face, _this is what I want_, _if you feel that way about me, _and he _gave_ that to her. He made her dream come true. And then he yanked it right out of her arms and left her crying... not because I was right there waiting to step in and fill her shoes, but just because _I exist."_

She shuddered as she finished her thought. "Not a way to make a girl feel like this is someone she should be with."

Seeing Chat struggling with wordless protest, she added, "Chat, I haven't always felt good about telling you 'no,' every time that you ask me to be yours. But I _have_ been consistent. You get that, right? I don't think that I've ever left you hanging like what he did to Ryuko. I hope that I've never given _you_ a huge taste of what you want and then crushed it! She told me about what happened and I just wanted to sit and cry with her."

* * *

Chat scoured his brain for any argument that he could offer. None were forthcoming, or at least none that would make a difference.

_I DO know Ladybug, as well as anyone possibly can! It isn't just a surface crush. I don't know everything about her... maybe I never will... but I know more about her, I'm by her side more than any other person on the planet is. But she has no way of knowing that,_ he lamented to himself.

_And without blowing my secret identity, I have no way to tell her that she'd believe._

_I'm not going to apologize for falling in love and being true to that. I don't know any other way to be._

_But I handled things with Kagami really, really badly. Worse than I'd imagined. I'm going to need to think long and hard as to how to even salvage our friendship._

_I think I torpedoed any chance of ever being with Ladybug as myself, too. And that's... some sleepless nights ahead of me._

_And Marinette..._

_..._

_Good lord..._

_...WHAT am I going to do about Marinette?_

* * *

"...I don't know what to say," Chat said, slowly. "Or do."

"I don't need you to do much, okay?" Ladybug explained. "Like, _don't_ go out and beat Adrien up, either for what he did to Ryuko or for turning out to be your rival! He doesn't deserve that. I just want you to... well... be there with us when we talk with him. Make sure we don't go over the top when we do, but that I don't get... weak, either. Just be there and be my friend, because we need one right now, and I trust you so much."

Ryuko spoke up, though feeling like she was intruding on a personal, intimate conversation just by being present. "The same goes for me," she said. "You don't know me nearly as well, but I feel like you're someone I can trust, too. Just help us explain to Adrien what he did and why he shouldn't have done it that way. Maybe give him some pointers of your own. I mean, _you'd_ never do that to someone you cared for, right?"

* * *

Both girls were startled to see Chat Noir simply... crumble before their eyes.

"I don't know what I would do any more. _What_ I'm capable of," Chat mumbled. "I'm just a fool."

"Ch... Chat?" Ladybug ventured, reaching out slowly, her eyes huge. "Are you okay?"

"No," he replied, quietly. "I mean, yeah, yeah, I'll be okay. Just give me a minute."

_Or an hour. Or a year. Or a lifetime to try to climb out of this hole I'm in._

"I feel awful that I just... dumped all of this on you. On both of you," Ryuko said, hanging her head. "We are all stressed enough; you didn't need this on top of everything else going on."

_My goodness... what HAVE I done?_ she panicked, internally. _Marinette got the words out, but I think she aged five years in the process. And Chat Noir... something in what she said cut him to the quick. He is completely distraught! _

_Is she quite close to Chat Noir as Marinette as well? Hearing about Marinette's distress seemed to touch a raw nerve in him. Was it seeing Ladybug in emotional pain like that? _

_Did one do more damage than the other?_

"No, Ryuko... don't feel like that." Ladybug stayed by Chat's side, but turned towards Ryuko with what she hoped was a comforting look. "We may be superheroes, but we're people first. We're friends. We catch each other when we're falling."

"And that goes for you, too, Chat," she repeated, putting her hand on his shoulder. _"Are_ you going to be okay, Kitty?" she asked him, in a lower voice. "I didn't plan on just throwing my secret crush in your face tonight... even if he probably lost his seat at that table after this. We can talk alone together later, if you want to."

"Not tonight, okay?" Chat managed. "I'm not ready. There are a few things that... I'd like to know how you know... to hear more about... but I can't do this now. I'm..."

"You don't have to do this with us. It's okay! It's... I'll be fine, even if you're not there. But you needed something to do tonight, you sounded like you were feeling really down... and look what I just did to you," Ladybug consoled him, looking glum. "I'm sorry, Chat. The invitation is still open, but this isn't what I'd call a fun errand."

"I'll go with you," he said, before he could change his mind. "I want to."

_I'm not sure how this could turn out... since I'm obviously not at home... _Chat reasoned. _But if they went in through my window and rummaged around my room, I don't know if I'd be comfortable with that... and what if they said "Oh, since he's not here, we'll wait here for him!" I'd be sunk!_

"If you're sure..." Ladybug asked, and at his nod, she waved to Ryuko. "Okay, let's go knock on a window and see who answers," Ladybug declared. "I think we're all ready for this."

_Two out of three of us, at least, _Chat thought, morosely.

* * *

As the heroes approached the Agreste mansion, Chat Noir signaled them with a raised hand. "I'll go scout out his room," he offered. "Making sure he's there and he doesn't have company, okay?"

"Makes sense. We'll be here," Ladybug smiled, and turned to Ryuko as they watched him head further in. "What do you think of him?" Ladybug asked.

"Before I answer that..." stammered Ryuko, "I put you on the spot back there. I slipped, and I apologize for that."

"You're okay. Don't worry about it," replied Ladybug. "It's not how I would've planned on telling him Marinette's side of things... but he needed to know."

"If you are sure," Ryuko asked, to which Ladybug nodded with a small smile.

"As for Chat... he is... quite different tonight than when I've met him before. More of his real self, I think. He's sweet, and thoughtful, and far more sensitive than I expected, like you had said," Ryuko noted. "I get the sense that he is full of surprises like that. Good ones."

"He is. He's full of jokes and puns and bravado... but he really does care about me. I know that he does," Ladybug replied. "And there's a sadness deep down that he tries to cover for. I know that he feels lonely when he's his normal self."

"Hmmm," mused Ryuko. _He reminds me of someone else I know, in a lot of ways..._

"I really hope I wasn't too hard on him," worried Ladybug. "I mean, it was _Adrien_ we were dumping on, not him... but that whole I-can-only-love-one-person-and-it's-you thing we were talking about? Chat's thrown that at me more than once. I think that he thought I was calling _him_ out on that, too."

"And were you, intentionally?" asked Ryuko.

"Maybe a little bit? But if I was, that wasn't nice of me. He just wanted to help tonight," Ladybug frowned. "I do need to talk this out with him. He's taking this hard."

"I have an... odd suggestion," ventured Ryuko. "By all means, talk with him first; he needs that. But perhaps... I could see if he might want to come spend time with me sometime?"

"Do what now?" Ladybug asked, her head whipping around.

"I pushed too hard with Adrien; I know I did," Ryuko said. "That's part of how this happened. Chat pushes way too hard with you. I'm not saying that I'm suddenly in love, or anything like that... I would want to get to know him better as friends before anything else... but he _does_ seem like the kind of guy that I'm fond of. Maybe he and I could... I don't know... teach each other a little about taking things slow and easy, without any pressure?"

"Are you serious?" wondered Ladybug, at full attention.

"Perhaps? I don't know yet," Ryuko backpedaled. "I don't want to step on your toes, if you have an interest..."

"What makes you think I'd have that kind of interest?" asked Ladybug, a little more defensively than she'd intended.

"Or if you don't! He's your friend and partner. I would not want to get in the way of any of that," Ryuko replied. "It's just an idea that occurred to me! I'm throwing it out to you before I would even think about asking him, and that's if I would decide to do it at all. But I, um... I kind of know what it feels like to be lonely."

Ladybug thought hard for a moment. "I'm... not saying no, believe me. It's an interesting idea... and I can kind of see it, the more I think about it," she noted. "You'd have an uphill battle knocking him away from 'I'm in love with Ladybug,' though, and I say that hoping that you'd _win_ that battle eventually."

"I will think more about it. It just came to mind, that's all," Ryuko assured her. "I will let you know first if I decide that I would like to pursue that."

"Cool," Ladybug smiled. "All right... here he comes now."

* * *

"No sign of him," Chat reported back. "I even checked the garage, and his bodyguard's car isn't there. So he could be inside doing something with his father, or out just about anywhere."

"That puts a damper on our little intervention," sighed Ladybug. "And there's no indication of when he might come back?"

"Uh-uh. Nope. Not a one," stammered Chat.

"No sense in sitting here all night, then..." Ladybug reasoned. "Ryuko, do you think I've, well, talked you off the ledge tonight?"

"I will be okay. It was good to sit with you and Chat and talk things out," Ryuko smiled. "I still want to get my hands on Adrien... my thoughts, not my hands, honest... but it doesn't have to be right now."

"Chat... do _you_ want to go and talk, just the two of us?" asked Ladybug, looking concerned again. "I said some pretty heavy things tonight."

"Nah," Chat waved her off, trying to show a stiff upper lip. "I need to do some... uh... thinking about a few things on my own first. You two can do your thing, and if I happen to run into Adrien, I'll let you know, okay?"

"All right," Ladybug replied, not looking fully convinced. "But if you need me, you message me, okay?" she asked, holding up the yo-yo containing her communicator.

"I will. Ryuko, it was a pleasure seeing you again... and I hope that you feel better soon. You deserve so much better than how Adrien treated you," Chat added.

"Thank you, that helps," said Ryuko. "And thank _you_ for listening. That was clearly not what you had bargained for tonight, but you stayed anyway, and I am very grateful. I hope to see you again sometime soon, Chat."

The girls headed off in one direction together. Chat watched them go, then took off in the opposite direction just as hard and as fast as he'd ever moved in his life.

* * *

Ryuko and Ladybug landed on Marinette's balcony together, for one more quiet moment to talk.

"That didn't go quite as I planned, but it was a spur-of-the-moment idea... Will you be okay tonight, Kagami?" Ladybug asked.

"I will. I promise," said Ryuko. "I am so much better than I was, and I have you to thank for that. Talking it out like that helped me regain a little perspective... We'll figure this out."

"Good," smiled Ladybug... who then peeked over the railing of her balcony. "Say... how did you get here tonight, earlier? Did someone drive you?"

"I, um... snuck out and walked?" Ryuko admitted. "It took me a while, but I didn't want my parents to know how upset I was..."

"Wow. That's some hike," marveled Ladybug. "Then do this for me... take the Dragon Miraculous home with you tonight."

"You'd let me do that?" asked Ryuko, wide-eyed.

"I'm not saying that it's permanent yet. But you'll get home a lot faster via running across rooftops, and I think you could benefit from hanging out with Longg tonight. I know a little something about having a broken heart and having a Kwami to help it heal," explained Ladybug.

"That would be wonderful. Thank you again, Marinette..."

She stepped forward and wrapped Ladybug up once more. This time, not as startled, Ladybug put a bit more into her half of the hug... and it lasted longer.

"Call me tomorrow, okay?" Ladybug yelled as Ryuko left, and got a nod and wave in return. Quickly, she dropped down to street level and transformed in the alley, then darted into her house.

"Oh, hey," Sabine called to her. "Is everything all right?"

"Yeah. Boy trouble," explained Marinette. "I may not know what to do about _my_ boy troubles, but I seem to be pretty good at doctoring other people's."

"You have a good heart, Marinette," Sabine smiled.

Marinette ran up the stairs, slowing down as she approached the door to her room. _As soon as I close my door,_ she thought, _boy, am I going to get an earful from Tikki... but I think I did something good tonight._

_I really hope that it helped._

* * *

An elevator platform reached its destination, and a tall figure stepped off of it, moving quickly. As he did, a tiny purple Kwami emerged into the dark room.

"Again, Master?" Nooroo sighed. "You never tire of this?"

"Not while my goal remains unfuifilled. You know that," Gabriel intoned. "And tonight may be the key! If the pulse I'm feeling from the Moth Miraculous is any guide, someone is in _agony_ right now. An emotional knot of remarkable intensity, that I can use to create my finest Akuma yet!"

Nooroo shook his tiny head, resigned to the knowledge that he could not stop what was to come. With Gabriel's cry of "Darkwings... RISE!", he felt himself sucked into the Moth and his magics used to return Hawkmoth to the waking world, as usual.

Once transformed, Hawkmoth concentrated intently. "This... unfortunate soul moves like quicksilver," he muttered. "It is... surprisingly... difficult to get a lock on him. It is definitely a him. It seems familiar for some reason..."

"Ah!"

The target stopped for a moment to rest, allowing Hawkmoth a slightly better telepathic glimpse of whom it was that his mental presence was following. A gasp turned into a sinister cackle, as he reached for one of the white butterflies in the room and charged it up with Akuma energy.

"How... very _interesting!" _Hawkmoth chuckled...

* * *

Next time:

* "It got us where we are now. Do we want to be here?"

* Keen observation is not always a gift.

* "This... is not what I had bargained for..."

* "Am I _that_ far gone?"

* "Plan later. Run NOW!"

* And more...


	5. When Past and Future Collide

Chapter 5: When Past and Future Collide

* * *

Chat Noir wasn't sure where he was going... but "here" was out of the question. "Alone" was more like what he'd had in mind, along with "somewhere else," and he didn't know where that would be but he'd know it once he got there. For now... run and jump and _get away _were his driving impulses.

His thoughts were fiendishly difficult to outrun, however, and persisted in his brain no matter which way he turned.

_It's just... I don't... _

_...I CAN'T figure out how I landed in this situation! _he lamented to himself. _I have tried very hard to do what seemed right to me all along. Be a good friend to everyone I can. Fall in love with one special girl, be devoted to her, be true to her, and eventually win her heart. That's how it's supposed to work, isn't it? All the TV shows, all the movies, all the love songs go the same way. _

_That's how normal people do this, isn't it?_

_Well, look what that's gotten me,_ Chat moped. _A good friend whose signals I missed for months... and whose heart I broke by being oblivious and not letting her down SUPER easy. And who hid that pain from me rather than let me know what I was doing to her! _

_Another good friend who also wanted more, and I tried to give her what she needed... I really, really tried... and I just made things worse. _

_And the girl of my dreams, the girl that I love, and I always will... she's furious with me, and I can't tell her why she shouldn't be. Not without showing her the one secret that she swears she'll never be able to know!_

_I don't have a hole to dig myself out of... I have THREE. __Because those are three girls that I need in my life in one form or another. _

_The question is... how do I even begin to rebuild those bridges?_

Passing out of more heavily traveled areas of Paris, Chat found a fairly deserted area and landed by a public bench. He came to a halt and flopped down onto it, head in hands, trying desperately to make sense out of the chaos he'd just endured while he caught his breath.

* * *

_"You..._"

As expected, the moment that Marinette's door closed, a small voice of reason buzzed frantically around her head. "I cannot _believe_ that you did what you just did,_" _huffed Tikki.

"Believe it. It happened," Marinette replied, flatly, walking over to her computer chair and plopping down in it.

"Not it. _Several_ _its_,_" _Tikki began her lecture. "You gave your secret identity away to Kagami! You gave her the Dragon Miraculous _after_ she'd been compromised to Hawkmoth. _That_ gave away to her that you're the new Guardian, if she thinks about it, since you had her Miraculous in your room! You used your powers and gave Kagami hers _and_ blew your identity for _personal_ reasons, and it sounded like you were ready to _beat Adrien up_ for a while there!"

"Guilty as charged! But let me restate all of that," countered Marinette, to which Tikki folded her arms and waited.

"I acted out of compassion for my friend. I was staring at a situation where someone who _had_ been compromised was now extremely vulnerable, and I didn't want to see purple wings come flying at her! I didn't want her to think that Ladybug was some kind of selfish diva who'd just stolen her boyfriend away from her. I didn't want to see her emotionally broken _when I could help fix it_."

Marinette's voice was emphatic, giving no ground. "And Adrien... no, I wasn't _really_ going to do anything physical to him. But what I heard tonight about him - _multiple things_ I learned about him - were just a _bit _game-changing, don't you think?"

Tikki let Marinette continue while preparing her next argument. "I'm not about to tell _everyone_ who I am behind the mask, and you know that, Tikki," Marinette declared. "That was a snap judgment. One, I'll add, that I made after I'd just had the shock of my _life!_"

"You're _better_ than that," snapped Tikki. "You're supposed to be, _especially now_ that you have this added responsibility! You _do_ remember the things Master Fu taught you, right?"

That got a look back from Marinette that made Tikki fly backwards, just a little bit. Clearly, Marinette was running mostly on emotion right now... but she couldn't remember ever seeing a flash of _anger_ aimed her way from her young host.

"I remember an awful lot of things that Master Fu taught me, Tikki. Like his Rule One, secrecy at all costs, even among other Miraculous hosts. It's part of what got us where we are now. Do we _want_ to be here?"

* * *

Ryuko congratulated herself for making it back to her home and bedroom without being spotted. "Longg... Open sky," she muttered, transforming back into her normal self. A tiny red dragon popped into existence and hovered next to her, eyeing her curiously.

"Ah, greetings, Mistress Kagami! It is my distinct pleasure to make your acquaintance once again," Longg declared. "Although I must admit to some confusion as to the how, the why and the where we are now..."

"I am pleased to see you as well, Longg. And this is just as unexpected for me, believe me," Kagami replied, with a small smile that quickly faded. "I am greatly troubled, my friend. I could use your wisdom on some difficult matters tonight."

"I see! As it happens, I believe myself to be an expert in managing human affairs," Longg began. "Why, when I was a trusted advisor to the mage of the court of Emperor Hong Taiji..."

Kagami took a deep breath. _This might take a little time before I can get a word in edgewise,_ she realized.

* * *

_Okay. Get a grip, Adrien. Figure out some kind of plan for each of them,_ Chat ordered himself.

_Kagami needs a huge apology from me, like, _galaxy-sized_. I know that for sure. She's just heard all about my surface crush on Ladybug... FROM Ladybug... when Ladybug herself doesn't fully understand it herself! So I need to get her alone, and we need to talk this out as soon as possible. _

_I need to thread a really tiny needle here. Explaining how sincere I truly am about Ladybug, how this isn't just a celebrity crush... describing all the things that she and I have been through together... but ALSO making sure that Kagami knows how special SHE is to me. How much it took for me to even THINK about dating someone else. How much I wanted her to have the relationship that she wanted so badly..._

_Maybe she'll believe me. Maybe I can repair things at least a little bit there. I really don't know how that'll go._

_For Ladybug herself... I don't know WHAT to do,_ Chat moped. _Somehow, hearing "I WAS in love with Adrien Agreste" is a whole lot less thrilling than "am."_

_That's another conversation that needs to happen, though I'm not sure how or when. Maybe I can use my Chat Noir self as a go-between to try to set up a time and place to meet? _

_I'll figure out what I'm going to say later, though, and this isn't about winning her heart... this is about just keeping her as a friend! She was REALLY upset tonight about what she thought I'd done to her friends. She seemed to grasp that I didn't deliberately hurt either one... but she knew that I DID hurt both of them. And that could get complicated._

_And as for Marinette..._

Chat's mind went fuzzy for a moment, from a surge of several conflicting emotions.

_So many things make sense now! About her, about how she acts near me, speaks with me... why she was so upset in the car that day..._

Now that he was actually looking for it in his memories, putting her hidden feelings into the equation of so many of their interactions... Chat gasped at how many moments between the two of them were leaping out at him.

_This is... this is nightmarish! _Chat realized. _The last person on Earth that I'd ever want to hurt... and she's been waiting and trying and suffering all along trying to get my attention, and I never noticed! _

_What a FOOL I've been. How am I ever going to..._

_To..._

Chat looked up, sensing something unusual in the area... and his eyes locked onto tiny purple wings, headed straight for him.

_Oh, no! _he panicked. _Plan later... run NOW!_

* * *

Grinning from ear to ear, Hawkmoth viewed his Akuma's pursuit with glee.

"Yes, _run_, Chat Noir. Run away like the scared kitten you are! But I can sense that you are quite torn up inside, even from just an initial scanning! Once you are caught - and you _will _be - there will be no way that you can resist my power. I will rummage through your secrets, know all the details of why you are so anguished, and then... _everything_ falls into place."

He concentrated hard, trying to get a decent visual through the Akuma's limited sensory organs; the fast-moving Chat was little more than a blur, but that was enough. "You can run; it can _fly,"_ Hawkmoth snickered. "You will tire... and you will fall. And your Miraculous will be _mine!_"

* * *

"What do you mean by _that?_" Tikki demanded, not backing down. "'Do we want to be here,' indeed? Why wouldn't we?"

"I mean that Master Fu _did_ give me sound advice and guidance. He was the one I relied upon for how to do so many things. He was a _great_ mentor_," _argued Marinette. "And yet, here we are! We just got trashed by Hawkmoth and Mayura. Master Fu had to sacrifice his _mind_ and his_ Guardianship _to make up for my mistakes. And now _I'm_ the Guardian, half my allies are compromised, I've got a Miracle Box in my room and _I don't know what I'm doing_ and I am _petrified_, Tikki. I am figuring this out as I go along."

"I _know _how worried you are, and you have lots of reasons to be. But-"

"But I am sure of one thing," Marinette cut Tikki off. "If I'm in charge, and I try to do everything just the way that Master Fu did... we're in a world of trouble again. I don't have his mind or his knowledge. The old ways worked great for a long while, but it sure looks like Hawkmoth figured them out, even with Master Fu right there to guide us! And that means that I need to do this my own way. If I don't adapt and change things up... we're all doomed."

"And that means blurting out your secret identity. To someone who's already compromised, just like you said," insisted Tikki. "What happens when Hawkmoth comes after her now, either for revenge or going after the Dragon?"

"He can go after her or her family whether he knows that she has a Miraculous or not. Would it be better for her to be defenseless, a sitting duck, or to have some way of protecting them?" argued Marinette. "And would he suspect at all that she would _know_ my secret? Or view her as a high priority, since she's someone who's had a Miraculous all of twice? Possibly... but it's a chance I needed to take tonight, Tikki!"

Marinette looked at her with pleading eyes. "I meant what I said back there. The people I trust with a Miraculous... we _will_ be looking out for each other. We will do whatever it takes to keep each other strong. Kagami could be one of my core hosts that I rely upon; maybe with the Dragon, maybe with a different one, I haven't decided yet. But she is a _friend_ and she _came to me for help _and she was in_ pain _and it was _partly my fault, _even though I didn't _know that!"_

She slumped down to her knees. "I am going to make mistakes, Tikki. I am going to take chances. I am going to do things differently sometimes," she added. "And maybe when I have my nerves more under control, I'll rethink some of this. But right now... I need to fix anything I can reach before this ship sinks, because we're headed for disaster."

* * *

_This is a disaster! _Chat's brain shouted at him, even as his legs kept the rest of him moving fast. _I'm more mobile than his average target, I can evade it for a while... but I don't know that even I can dodge it forever. _

_What did Marinette tell me about the time Hawkmoth had latched onto her with an Akuma?_

"It's like... it's not mind control, but it's pretty darn close," Marinette had relayed to him. "You know whose voice it is in your brain. You know that he's evil, and that you shouldn't listen and that you have to resist it. But when he gets you... he seems like your friend, like the most reasonable person in the world, the one man you can turn to for help. I felt like he could tell if I was lying to him, and I didn't really want to. And when you're vulnerable inside, which is why he targets you in the first place... it's so, _so _easy to slip. He can read some of your thoughts, he knows why you're angry or sad or hopeless, and it's just... _ohhhh!"_ she'd shuddered.

_That tells me one thing; if it gets me, there's no way that I can resist right now. I'm... I'm too messed up inside,_ he worried. _So if that catches me, he'll have me... and the Cat Miraculous._

He stole a glance behind him, and saw that he hadn't put much distance between him and the menacing butterfly. _It may have tiny little wings, but it can move fast when he wants it to!_ he gasped.

_I need an idea... and FAST._

* * *

Kagami listened as her tiny companion rambled on, finally pausing to gather his thoughts, which is where she jumped in.

"_Longg!_ I need to ask you a few things, _quickly,_ please," she interjected, causing the Dragon Kwami to return to reality and nod in her direction.

"Speak, my child," he intoned. "What troubles you? The matters of the heart of which you had spoken? This evening's revelations about the Ladybug?"

"_Yes!_ And _yes!_ I feel like my head is about to split apart."

"One at a time, then. The Ladybug has taken quite a shine to you, hmmm?" Longg smiled.

"That's _one way_ to put it. I cannot... I _can_ believe that she is Ladybug, now that I know; it fits her well enough. But I _cannot_ believe that she just _showed me_ that tonight!" boggled Kagami. "When I felt terrible about approaching her _at all_ about my breakup with Adrien! Then for her to trust me _that much!_"

"She is going through hard times of her own, undoubtably," Longg noted. "She needs a good friend right now as much as you do. Her level of trust in you is no small thing, both for its implications for the Miraculous and for her regard for you in particular."

"I will guard her secret with my life, Longg," Kagami swore. "But this will require some time for me to... adjust."

"No doubt," chuckled the dragon. "It appears that you have _many_ adjustments in progress. Your relationship with Marinette, your sudden lack-of-relationship with Adrien, your curiosity about Chat Noir..."

"All very true. But now that you have mentioned him... what do you know of the host of the Cat Miraculous? I do not need to know his name, and I don't think you could or would tell me anyway. But could he be someone that Ladybug knows in her private life?" wondered Kagami.

"I am not sure. In the Miracle Box, much of what we hear are simple hints and gossip, and Plagg keeps his own counsel," mused Longg. "Why do you ask?"

"I watched Ladybug and Chat Noir interacting tonight. They have quite a bond, as I would expect from their close partnership," Kagami said. "But... it seemed as if Chat _also_ had considerable feelings for Ladybug's human host, without knowing that the two are actually one."

"I would not be surprised by that at all," Longg agreed. "From what I have witnessed, she does not disguise her true self much when she is Ladybug, so if he is quite fond of the one, he ought to be of both."

"This went beyond fondness. With Ladybug saying that Adrien has likely lost his chances with her, Chat ought to have been happy about that, as it would take away his competition for Ladybug. Yet, it looked like that _hurt_ him more than anything else... and hearing about Marinette's bruised feelings about Adrien seemingly hurt even _more_."

The Kwami nodded his head solemnly, allowing her to continue.

"And I cannot put my finger on them yet... but there were certain... familiarities about Chat Noir tonight," she said, "once he let his guard down around us. And something of an attraction on my part, which I had not anticipated. All things that have me wondering..."

"What _are_ you wondering, young dragon?" asked Longg, like a teacher prompting a student to make a logical leap on their own.

"Is it possible... that I am more acquainted with Chat Noir than I previously knew?"

Longg smiled, disarmingly. "All things are possible in this plane of existence. Is this something that you would desire?"

_A very good question,_ she thought...

* * *

Kagami's mind whirled with what she knew and what she thought she knew.

_Marinette and I each have loved Adrien. Adrien loves Ladybug, or so he believes, at least. How much simpler things could have been if she had known! And yet now that she knows his feelings... she is more confused than ever about him, and I cannot blame her there._

_Chat Noir also loves Ladybug, more sincerely than Adrien does, or at least so it seems. So Chat Noir _does_ love Marinette... whether he knows that consciously or not. She is far more than a friend to him already; that much is obvious. If I picked up anything from this evening's conversation, it was that; he had a very strong and personal reaction when he heard of her distress._

_It's obvious to me. Is it obvious to HIM? _

_Not that he only paid attention to that, of course. He was very gracious... and QUITE apologetic over my own sad story, even though it wasn't a problem that he had anything to do with himself. _

_Which is... interesting, as well. It could be that he is merely as sensitive deep down as Ladybug describes him._

_Or..._

__Is_ there something there? Or is it all just coincidence? _

Kagami shook her head, slowly, trying not to let her imagination run away with her.

_Ladybug does feel that sincerity from Chat Noir, but she cannot respond in kind because of her responsibilities. And Adrien. And she cannot respond to _Adrien_ because, well, she's Marinette. Which is how I stood a chance with Adrien in the first place... or thought that I did, anyway. _

_And now Marinette may not want to... but that depends on how Adrien responds to her now. To BOTH of her!_

_And then what?_

_ Marinette and I are becoming closer... after tonight, so very much closer. If I was who was best for Adrien, she was prepared to let me have him. That's clear to me now. And that was _before_ I turned to her the way that I did tonight, and what we learned about each other._

_But now I know who _Adrien_ thinks is best for him... and it's HER. But he doesn't KNOW that it's her!_

_This is all so confusing..._

_If I yank hard on this web of love strings... will it collapse into a square... or a triangle... or a straight line?_

_One that I am not part of?_

"I... do not know, Longg," she wavered. "I am not sure that being wrong _or_ being right would be a better thing."

"Then keep your eyes open, and choose to be neither as of yet," Longg suggested. "Do not be hasty; hold your position until your situation is clearer. A single strike to the heart of this matter may be more useful than many feints and parries."

"I think you may be right," smiled Kagami. "Thank you."

"My pleasure!" grinned Longg. "Now, as for your difficulties with your young man... Have I told you about the time I helped resolve a romantic dispute between Princess Xi Chang and a young woman of a nearby village...?"

_No... but you're about to,_ sighed Kagami, settling in for the inevitable.

* * *

Tikki stared back at Marinette, both of them looking highly frustrated.

"You... are not completely wrong, Marinette. And I do not want to come down on you _too_ hard, because you are under a world of stress right now," Tikki said, carefully. "We will need to figure out many things together and find the best path forward. For you, for Chat Noir, for the whole team, whomever they will end up being. Which Miraculous we should put into play and which should now remain in the Box."

"But," frowned Marinette.

"_But,_" confirmed Tikki, "there are elements of this situation that _you do not know yet. _That you _cannot_ know yet. That affect others besides yourself and could affect _your future_. I need you to go slowly, think your decisions out, and not let emotions be part of that process until things have stabilized. Does that make sense?"

"Yes, it does. And when are you going to tell me these things, if they are that important?" Marinette retorted.

There was a pause...

"When you are ready for each, in turn," evaded Tikki. "Do not be in a hurry; some of these, you may not like very much."

_Such as who's behind Chat Noir's mask, for example,_ Tikki worried. _So that if something happens to Chat OR Adrien, you will understand those implications and can retrieve the Miraculous. How I'm not completely sure that you can be Ladybug AND the Guardian AND in love with Chat Noir's host at the same time. Or just how long I have known that your loved one has been by your side all along - and that you've been deflecting his ardor away from you._

_He took tonight's conversation __HARD, though he tried to deny that. I do not have a good feeling about that..._

"I really don't _care_ how much I'll like them," objected Marinette. "If they are necessary for me to protect the - Tikki, what is it?"

Her shift in tone came as Tikki cocked her head, as if listening to something only she could hear, a very startled expression on her tiny face.

"A message. We, um... have a problem," Tikki declared. "And you might just end up learning one of those things tonight."

* * *

"Ladybug, I'm near Parc Floral de Paris. I've got an Akuma in pursuit of _me_. I'm going to try something to safeguard my Miraculous... so you won't find _me_ here when you get here. Please, _please_ be careful. Chat out."

Chat Noir finished his message over his communicator, saying a silent prayer that Ladybug would receive it and respond to it quickly.

_Okay,_ he reasoned, _that much is done. Now for the really dangerous part... and I don't know how I'm going to explain this to Ladybug when it's over, no matter how this plays out. But Hawkmoth just _can't_ get his hands on the Cat ring, so..._

Chat darted around the corner of a building, then another, ducking and dodging so as to get out of the butterfly's line-of-sight briefly. He stood at the end of an alleyway and surveyed a small intersection in front of him; _nobody's looking this way but me, not many people, no cars coming, a grassy field across the street. Just what I needed_, he thought.

"Claws in," he gasped.

Plagg popped into existence in front of him, looking aghast. "What the heck are you _doing?_" he babbled. "That Akuma won't take long to find you."

"I need it to find me... but _not_ Chat Noir. This is temporary, buddy, I promise."

"Wait, what?" wondered Plagg... right before Adrien yanked the ring off his finger and hurled it with all his might into the field!

_There,_ he thought, as he ambled over to a streetside bench and sat down, glumly. _I'm not Chat Noir any more tonight. And I really _don't_ know where the ring is right now; no more than a vague general direction. A tiny bit of plausible deniability._

With his eyes closed and his posture limp, he waited.

_Come and get me._

* * *

Next time:

* This chapter ran long enough that I can either split it into two or start writing monster-length chapters again. So... split, it is.

* "This... is not what I had bargained for..."

* "Am I _that_ far gone?"

* An emotional confrontation.

* A sleepless night.

* And more...


	6. The Doctor Was Not Aware That He Was In

Chapter 6: The Doctor Was Not Aware That He Was In

* * *

Adrien Agreste sat very still, his mind racing as fast as his pulse rate.

_Stay as focused as you_ can, he told himself. _Keep your answers short and direct and answer only questions that you're asked. If you can find a tiny light of truth in what you're saying to him, follow it._

_So much depends on this bluff right now. Ladybug is coming... but she won't get here in time. It's up to you to dodge this bullet._

_Don't think about what you'll tell her afterwards; focus on the here and now. Be ready for anything._

He gripped the armrest tightly on the bench where he was sitting, then forced himself to let go, wanting to appear as if he wasn't expecting what he knew was about to hit him.

_Oh - an object!_ Adrien realized. _ Do I have anything on hand for the Akuma to grab onto?_

Adrien searched his pockets; nothing jumped out at him. The lucky charm Marinette had given him was at home today, and the rest of the contents were mundane things; coins, a pocket comb, his phone. _I don't want Ladybug breaking __that_, he smiled. _And something related to my emotional state would be best..._

_Ah._

Adrien pulled out his wallet, then flipped through it quickly... and found a small photograph of Marinette Dupain-Cheng inside.

_She traded these with her friends on Picture Day in class,_ Adrien remembered. _And I qualified as one. __I bet she has no idea that I still carry it around._

Taking the picture out and holding it in front of him, he wondered, _When I do get the chance to try to make things up to her... what will I say? I -_

_URK!_

* * *

Tikki watched as Marinette's face turned an unearthly shade of white.

"Chat's being chased by an _Akuma?_" Marinette gasped. "I _told him _that I wanted to talk with him, to let him get his feelings out about what was said tonight..."

"Don't be too hard on him, Marinette," Tikki replied. "Chat is... complicated in a lot of ways. He's also like you; he'd rather shoulder a burden than inflict it on someone else. Especially you."

_You know that you were a little hard on him,_ worried Tikki, _but you have no idea just how deep your words cut tonight, that Adrien was right there listening to them! That cannot be helped... but, ohhh, this could get complicated tonight._

_"He's_ not the one whom I'd blame for this," moped Marinette.

"Hey," Tikki blurted out, "Not the time to dwell on that or assign any blame. We can talk later about things... but right now, you're Chat's one hope."

"Completely agreed! I need to focus," Marinette replied, attempting exactly that. "He said 'Parc Floral de Paris'; that's on the east side. What do you think he meant by 'safeguarding his Miraculous?'" she asked, making hurried mental plans for how to proceed.

"I don't know. He didn't elaborate," said Tikki. "So be ready for anything."

_I could call in Ryuko..._ pondered Marinette. _She's got her Miraculous ready... but let me see what we're facing first. She's had a very rough day, and she could use the rest. I'll signal her if I need her._

_Though if CHAT gets Akumatized... I'll signal her quickly, because I may well need her to stall him while I go get and deliver ALL THE OTHERS!_

"Okay. Let's get over there, then, _quickly!_ Spots on!"

* * *

In his moment of imminent triumph, Hawkmoth was positively giddy. His prey had proved to be impressively elusive, using his speed to evade capture as long as he could... but the pulse of negative emotions now seemed stationary.

_Accepting the inevitable, are we_? Hawkmoth smirked. _Or do you have some last-ditch plan in mind? It does not matter. You are MINE!_

The Akuma cleared the last rooftop, then nosedived towards a young man sitting on a public bench.

"You have led me on a merry chase, Chat Noir," the villain gloated. "But this time, you cannot escape me! Prepare yourself for..."

A flash of doubt struck Hawkmoth as the Akuma zeroed in. _Something's... not right. That boy isn't costumed! Wait, before you make..._

"...contact?"

* * *

In a flash, Adrien realized all at once that Marinette had been completely correct in her description of Akumatization... apart from her having a gift for dramatic understatement.

_Ugggggh!_ he winced. _This... PRESENCE is all around me, pressing at me from all directions! It's suffocating... I feel like a bug in amber... and yet there's also a way out. All I have to do is follow Hawkmoth's lead, accept his will... and there's at least a promise of relief._

_No wonder almost everyone gives in quickly. But I have to... at least TRY..._

"It figures," Adrien gasped. "As terrible as I feel tonight... I suppose this was inevitable. Well... what do you want from me?"

There was a moment of silence.

* * *

Hawkmoth recoiled, stunned by what he perceived.

_Wh-WHAT has happened? _

_I was chasing Chat Noir through the alleys of Paris, feeling his despair, his fear, his heartbreak... and now, I am linked to someone with all of those emotions, but somehow... it's my SON!_

_THIS... is NOT what I had bargained for..._

_"_Good... evening?" he stammered. "I am... Hawkmoth. I have sensed your inner turmoil, and my Akuma has answered its call. I... um..."

Adrien felt eyes somehow existing within his own eyes, looking left and right in search of a black-costumed figure.

_"You,_ however, are not whom I intended to contact. Where is Chat Noir? Which way did he go?"

"I am... not sure where Chat Noir is," Adrien answered, slowly. "I know that he was nearby, not long ago. But he is not here now."

The visual feedback from the energy signature around Adrien's eyes seemed to confirm that for Hawkmoth; there was no sign of him.

_This is preposterous. The boy is fast, but he cannot be THAT fast, can he? I cannot see how he could have eluded me. Which leaves one strong possibility... that my suspicions of old were well-founded!_

"Hmmph! A cunning gambit, my boy, but I am not so easily fooled. _You _are Chat Noir, and you are now mine..." the villain intoned.

* * *

Ladybug pushed herself across the rooftops as fast as she could go. _It's going to take me seven, maybe eight minutes to get there,_ she worried. _Hang on, Chat!_

* * *

_Keep your mind blank!_ Adrien ordered himself. _So much depends on what happens now._

"Do I _look_ like Chat Noir?" Adrien asked, plaintively. "Would I be sitting here in plain clothes if I was him?"

_Somewhat... yes_, _you do look like him,_ _as a matter of fact,_ Hawkmoth noted to himself. _ Though with the transformative power of a Miraculous, Chat's host could look very different from his heroic form..._

"Show me your hands," Hawkmoth commanded. Unable to resist, Adrien held both hands up in front of his face, turning them back and forth.

_No ring. There is a built-in disguise for each Miraculous, of course... but there isn't even the silver ring on his hand that I see Adrien wear often._

"Where is the _ring?"_ barked Hawkmoth. "I know very well that you would not travel without it."

"I'm not sure what you mean," Adrien struggled to say, fighting to stick to the disguised truth without making it obvious. "I have a silver ring that I usually wear... that was a gift, from a friend of mine... I didn't feel like I wanted to wear it tonight. How do... you know... that I wear that?"

_Erk! _Hawkmoth winced. _"Because I am your father and know everything about you" would not be the right answer._

"Never mind that. Empty your pockets, young man, if you have nothing to hide," he evaded.

A perfunctory search of Adrien's clothing turned up nothing besides everyday belongings, frustrating Hawkmoth. "You would not let your ring stray far from you, Chat Noir. Where is it, exactly?" he demanded.

"I have no idea _exactly _where Chat Noir's ring is. I would think that it would be with Chat Noir, wouldn't you?" Adrien grimaced. "Look, I am having a hard enough time tonight... what is it that you want from me?"

Hawkmoth frowned. _The surface evidence seems to exonerate him... I have ruled him out from being Chat Noir once before... and I must be cautious with my line of questioning._

_It would not be the first time that I have aimed for one target and the Akuma seized someone else..._

_But, SURELY... the wave of despair that I felt from Chat Noir... Adrien's resonates so similarly! What could possibly drag my son, of all people, that low?_

"You can begin by telling me what you are doing out here on a lonely night, sitting by yourself, feeling so horrible," Hawkmoth ventured. "What drew me to you tonight? Why are you even _out_ here, instead of at home where you belong?"

"I was... I..." Adrien said, slowly, trying to choose his words with care. "I needed to get out somewhere alone and _think_. If I'd stayed home, my father would've had me busy with lessons, piano practice, all sorts of things that I would have to focus on instead. I need to figure out what to _do_ about something."

"And that is...?"

Adrien sighed, "Girl trouble."

_There we go,_ Adrien worried. _What will he make of me now? Some kind of seduction villain, who can capture any girl's affection? An avenger for the broken-hearted? What?_

There was a long, silent pause from Hawkmoth. Finally, an answer came back... and the oppressive fog around Adrien's head seemed to lift somewhat at the same time.

"Do you want to talk about it?" asked Hawkmoth, hesitantly.

* * *

On the other side of town, a different conversation about love and all of its side effects was in progress... or, at least, it nearly was.

"_Longg_..." Kagami moaned. "I appreciate the stories you are telling me, but can we focus on my situation for a moment?"

"Oh! Oh, of course," smiled Longg, absently. "You must pardon me at times. It has been so long since I have had a human to converse with, I may need to brush up on some of the finer points of doing so! Which reminds me of something that I was told by a previous host, somewhere around..."

"_Lonng..." _repeated Kagami.

"Ah!" the Kwami yelped, slightly startled. "I did it again. Please speak, child. Is your heart set on the boy who had betrayed you today? Or is Chat Noir more to your liking now?"

"That... is very complicated," she replied. "And some of that depends on whether Chat Noir is Adrien beneath the mask, or if he is someone else. Which I know that you cannot tell me."

"I cannot, even if I knew, which I know not," Longg agreed. "If I was in his presence once again and concentrated, I could sense it quickly enough, but I have not done so as of yet."

"Which is fine. In a way, it doesn't really matter," Kagami began. "I am... I am still very much in love with Adrien, no matter what he did today. I am hurt by that... but a large part of me wants him to change his mind once more, not for me to rule him out completely now. Though with what I learned from him this afternoon and from Marinette this evening... I do not know if that will be possible."

"If Adrien is _obsessive_ over Ladybug... if he cannot make room for anyone else in his heart... that means that neither Marinette _nor_ myself stand a chance as ourselves. And as Ladybug, she has told me that she does not want to respond to him that way, if that is how he feels," she reasoned. "Though he is not alone in such feelings. Marinette's heart is set on Adrien just as strongly, for instance... as is mine."

"Hmmph," Longg snorted. "A recipe for disaster, there."

"Indeed," Kagami smiled. "I need to learn to finesse such things, to build up to a strong relationship rather than lunging for it all at once. Doing so cost me greatly with Adrien. So if Chat Noir is in fact Adrien Agreste... it is quite tempting to pursue him as Ryuko, as we could both stand to learn these same lessons."

"So as to slowly sway him back to loving you, then?" asked Longg. "Or simply away from his obsession, wherever that may lead?"

"...Perhaps?" she wavered. "There _are_ strong feelings between us. But I know where Adrien's heart truly lies... at least for now. If he would return to me of his own accord, I would not chase him away! But if he simply... learns a better way to love, and applies that to his heart's desire... I will know that he and Marinette will stand a much greater chance of succeeding. And I would at least regain much of my closeness with Adrien in the process."

"Interesting. And if Chat Noir is _not_ the boy you named?" prompted Longg.

"Then I am back to square one. Adrien will have his obsession, and I will stand no chance of winning him in the face of that. So I would need to start over... and Chat Noir and I could each still use those lessons in patience and interaction," Kagami replied. "I do not know if I could feel as strongly towards him as I do towards Adrien; if he is not Adrien, I barely know him as of yet... but he seems like someone with whom I would enjoy keeping company in a casual way, and easing his obsession would make Ladybug's life easier as well. Does that make sense?"

"So this would work to your own benefit in either case, but to your friends and teammates' benefit as well," Longg smiled. "A well-crafted plan, I do believe. But only time will tell."

"I do hope so," said Kagami. "So... shall we get to know each other a little better, Longg?"

"I would like that. First, I would enjoy telling you about the time that I-"

"Maybe _I'll_ go first this time," she grinned.

* * *

_Maybe three, four more minutes,_ Ladybug estimated, with as much of her mind as she could spare.

_Stupid! Stupid! STUPID! _she browbeat herself as she swung and ran. _You saw how unsettled Chat Noir was. You asked him __TWICE if he wanted to talk... but you should've realized how much he NEEDED to talk. How shaken up he really was inside... and what even TALKING ABOUT Ladybug loving someone else _who loves her back_ could do to him._

_You _are_ supposed to be better than this; Tikki was right about that. If you're going to be the leader... and lord knows that you're stuck with that job even more than ever now... you need to be on guard 24/7. 25/8, even. You need to be a taskmaster and a camp counselor and a psychiatrist all rolled into one. AND you need to find new ways to do all of it better than Master Fu did... who had over a hundred years' experience compared to your handful of days._

_This is IMPOSSIBLE! But it needs to happen somehow._

She shuddered to herself. _Can you imagine what kind of damage an Akumatized Chat Noir could do? He doesn't know my secret... but how many others he could spill about the team and how we do things? Worse yet, what the ordeal could do to him as a _person_, not just as a hero? What he would be like inside once he regained his senses?_

Ladybug grunted, and pushed herself to go even faster. _Hold on, honey, I'm coming! Please, please, PLEASE be safe._

* * *

Adrien could not have been more dumbfounded if he'd tried deliberately to be so.

"You... want to _talk about_ my problems? _YOU?" _he boggled.

_Honestly? I don't particularly, _Hawkmoth fretted. _But you ARE my son. You ARE out unattended at night, dealing with emotional trauma bad enough to sing out to my Akuma! Trauma that you haven't even hinted about to me... not that... I've been listening all that much._

_AND it would not do for our lead model to rampage through east Paris and have "What's Torturing Adrien Agreste?" be paparazzi fodder for weeks once he reverted back..._

"Why not?" Hawkmoth ventured, awkwardly. "Sometimes it helps to talk things out with a stranger, yes? Someone who won't judge you. I am a father myself, and I must admit that... I could use the practice at things like this."

"This is _weird_," Adrien emphasized.

"Indeed, it is," chuckled Hawkmoth, lightly. "It's up to you, Adrien. I have... something of a specific need for an Akuma host tonight, and you are not the kind of person whom I would wish to use for that creation."

"Are you KIDDING ME?" Adrien wondered, almost laughing out loud. "Am I _that_ far gone that even _Hawkmoth _has no use for me?"

"That is not it at _all!"_ Hawkmoth interjected. "In fact... if you would ever like to volunteer to be one of my hosts, just think some bad thoughts in my direction some time and I will see what we can do." He smiled to himself, then thought for another moment and came to a decision...

* * *

"No... I will take that back. You could become a fine Akuma host, but I would select you most reluctantly. I will go ahead and say this, though I should not... we have met, Adrien Agreste, in my everyday life. That should narrow it down to a few hundred thousand people, hmmm?" smiled Hawkmoth. "I know you well enough to know that you are a kind soul at heart, a thoughtful and well-meaning person. You are meant for gentler things than what I would put you through this evening."

"That..." Adrien managed, "was not something I thought I'd hear tonight. Thank you, Sir, whoever you are. Do we know each other well?"

"I think we will bring that line of inquiry to a halt," Hawkmoth replied quickly. "This is not a game of Twenty Questions, for obvious reasons." Looking down at Adrien's hands once more, he added, "The girl in the picture. She is an attractive young lady. Is she the one who is troubling you?"

"She's one of them. Probably the main one, yes," admitted Adrien. "She's a classmate of mine and a dear friend, and I've wronged her badly without meaning to."

"The day that you _do_ mean to will be your first," said Hawkmoth. "What?" he laughed, seeing Adrien's reaction. "As I said, I know a little of you, Adrien. You wear your conscience on your sleeve."

"I didn't have to _mean it_ to hurt her the way that I did," Adrien mumbled, uneasily. "And she's the last person that I'd ever want to hurt."

"You didn't do anything... _problematic_ with her, I would assume?" Hawkmoth worried. Visions of _Adrien Agreste's Love Child _headlines danced in his head.

"No, _no! _Absolutely not. I wouldn't even..." blushed a very startled Adrien. "No, it wasn't so much something that I did... but what I didn't. Communication issues. Things I didn't notice, signs I didn't pick up. Feelings that I _should_ have noticed... and maybe even returned."

"I see." _Just the kind of entanglement I had hoped to spare him by keeping him out of public schools, _Hawkmoth mused. _And yet... I'll grant that he likely does benefit from his social interactions; he has seemed far happier since I granted him that privilege. _

He stole another glance down at the photograph. _The girl is not unknown to me, _he thought. _Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the Akuma target who keeps getting away. She's been involved in his life in a number of ways: the derby hat that she designed, the Book of Lore that she found and returned to me, and he speaks of her around the house often enough. He thinks enough of her to carry her picture with him; I had not anticipated _that_._

_There are certainly far worse people for Adrien to associate with; the Bourgeois child, for example, who has all the charm and compassion of a road accident._

_I must speak with him regarding the Tsurugi girl, however. I had high hopes that he and she would prove inseparable; Tomoe will be most displeased if that is no longer the case!_

"I will leave you with this small advice, young man. Almost nothing on this Earth is irreparable," he noted to his son. "Speak with her from the heart. Be your honest and open self with her, the person whom she knows well, and very little that is bad can come of that. And perhaps speak with someone around your household more often, to try to keep things from going this far downhill."

Another thought crossed Hawkmoth's mind. "Do you go... out on your own like this often?" he wondered aloud.

"Not... very often? Just when I need space to think. My father would have a fit if he knew I was here, and probably send my bodyguard screaming out to find me."

_Precisely what I was about to do, blast it!_ thought Hawkmoth. "Perhaps you should head home before you are found out, then. I promise not to send an Akuma out to tell him," he grinned. "And I have someone else whom I am hunting down this evening, so best that you take cover anyway, wouldn't you say?"

"I... will do that," Adrien replied, in an uneasy tone.

"Good evening to you," said the voice in Adrien's head... and all at once, he was himself again. He watched a purple butterfly flap away from him, disappearing into the night.

* * *

_OKAY. That was... that was... what the HELL WAS THAT? _Adrien mentally screamed. _I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT THAT WORKED!_

A series of thoughts abruptly shoved much of the conversation out of his head temporarily, despite how startling it had been.

_My Miraculous is _somewhere_ over there in all that grass. It's a little black ring, since I'm not wearing it. A black ring, not very shiny, in the grass at night. Yeah, that'll be easy for me to find._

_OH, CRAP!_

_Ladybug is on her way here! And she's expecting to find Chat Noir... or whatever Akuma he became... NOT Adrien Agreste!  
_

_Without the ring, I can't transform. And if she finds me here... she's going to want to know where Chat is, why I'm here, and a good reason why those two facts are in no way related to each other._

_This is BAD. SO bad._

_So why am I still STANDING HERE?_

As fast as his legs could take him, Adrien retreated to the alleyway behind the bench.

_I'm out of sight... but now what? _he panicked. _I can't leave the Cat Miraculous unattended, and I have to let Ladybug know that I'm not in danger... but how?_

He peeked out of the alleyway, looking at nearby shops... _Nothing interesting or useful. Why the heck isn't there a party supply or costume shop on every street? _he wondered, bemoaning the injustice of that.

_So NOW what?_

_I can't even run for it. I'm wearing my usual outfit; she'd spot me in a heartbeat just by my clothes. She'd know them on sight!_

Turning around, he saw nothing in the alley except a dumpster full of assorted trash, and let out a sigh.

_Well, THIS day just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?_

* * *

A red blur swooped across one block after another, in the general vicinity of the Parc Floral de Paris, looking for trouble. Or her partner. Or _any _sign that would tell her that she hadn't just caused a city-shaking catastrophe.

_No one is running, no one is screaming, nothing is on fire. That's a good start, right?_ Ladybug wondered. _There's nothing I can see that's unusual around here..._

_I'll search here all night if I have to. Chat would not have sent a warning like that without very good reason. Could Hawkmoth have taken him away somewhere? Or something - wait!_

_Now, there's something you don't see every day..._

As she passed a small grassy area across from a row of storefronts, Ladybug saw a figure bent over in the middle of it. She approached it very warily, worried that it might be someone who had been Akumatized, judging from its unusual appearance... then burst out laughing once she got close, despite her worries.

Two bare legs were sticking out of a cardboard box, which the young man was holding close to his body with his left arm. Another box with two hastily punched-out eyeholes was over his head, and judging from what she could see, he wasn't wearing a whole lot more than that.

"Chat?" she called to him.

The figure whirled around, nearly losing his waist-box in the process, then waved with his right hand. "Um... hi," a muffled voice called back. "I suppose that I ought to explain what is happening here..."

"Honestly, I'm not all the way sure that I _want_ you to," giggled Ladybug, with at least some momentary relief.

* * *

Next time:

* An emotional confrontation.

* A sleepless night.

* "Five minutes isn't going to do it for this."

* "I can give you an answer you'd expect... or a real one."

* "Are you busy?"

* And more...


	7. Thinking Outside the Boxes

Chapter 7: Thinking Outside The Boxes

* * *

Ladybug tried hard to get her head back into the game. As entertaining as her partner's makeshift costume was... this wasn't a social call. Chat Noir had been in very dire straits, his current state must have been part of his attempts to escape Hawkmoth... and there were a lot of other hurdles that they now needed to clear.

"I am going to guess..." she began, looking around them, "that you transformed back to avoid Hawkmoth's Akuma. Did it work? Is it still around us somewhere?"

"It did... and it didn't," Adrien's muffled voice replied. "It did make contact... but I tried something desperate to keep the Miraculous away from him."

Quickly, he related how he'd tossed his ring into this general area and _deliberately _allowed Hawkmoth to make contact with his normal self. "It was one of the strangest moments of my life," Adrien admitted. "I'm pretty sure that I convinced him that I wasn't Chat Noir and that he'd caught the wrong target. At that point, he turned... apologetic? Even conversational... He actually tried to _help me_ with my problems."

That got a stare back from Ladybug. "That's... _unusual_," she marveled. "I've never heard of him doing anything like that before."

"I haven't, either, but I wasn't complaining! I did my best, but I didn't so much resist the Akumatization as... he let me go. And his advice wasn't all that bad, either."

"Wow," Ladybug said, puzzling that out. "So where is your Miraculous now?"

"That's what I'm looking for out here. It's not going to be easy to find." He turned and scanned the grass once more. "I _think_ it can't be very far from where I'm at now, but I deliberately didn't watch to see where it landed so that I couldn't tell him exactly where it was." Seeing something on the ground, he bent over, causing the box around his waist to shift...

"_Oh my GOD_ please tell me that you are not _naked _under that," Ladybug cried out, averting her eyes.

Adrien turned around and glared at her, with his free hand on his hip. "Ladybug... I will do a _lot _of impulsive things to save the day. But one thing I _won't do _is to go _commando_ while wearing _dumpster cardboard_," he replied. "I have boxers on under this."

"All right. Why are you _almost naked_, then?" she wondered.

"I was afraid that you might've recognized the clothes I was wearing, and I knew that I only had a minute or two before you'd arrive," said Adrien. "I got very lucky. If he hadn't let me go when he did, I would have a lot of explaining to do."

"Then we'd be even, because I have a lot of explaining to do for _you_," sympathized Ladybug. "I need to talk with you about... a lot of things... but let's get this mess sorted out first if we can, okay?"

With a smooth motion, Ladybug tossed her yo-yo skywards. "Lucky... CHARM!" she called. The energies above her coalesced into an object, falling into her hands...

* * *

"...Okay. I have no idea what this is," Ladybug puzzled, staring at the electronic gadget she held.

"It looks like something out of the Ghostbusters movie. The old one," noted Adrien. "A meter of some kind."

Ladybug pushed a button on it, pointing it away from both of them, and two little prongs came out and made small whirring noises. Their movement and brightness increased when she pointed it towards herself, then decreased somewhat towards Adrien.

"I think it's some kind of detector?" reasoned Ladybug. "Either for a Miraculous or for mystical things in general. Like a metal detector, but for ancient Chinese magic." She aimed it at her earrings, and the lightshow kicked into high gear. "So... maybe you can use this to sweep the grounds and play hot-and-cold to find your ring?"

"Cool! I think that's exactly what I needed right now," beamed Adrien, accepting it from her outstretched hand.

"I'll be back shortly, okay? I'll give you a few minutes to do your thing and find the ring," Ladybug told him. "I'll need to recharge, now that I've used my power. If you're not Chat Noir again by the time I get back, I'll help you look for it. And then we should go somewhere and talk, because five minutes isn't going to do it for this."

"Agreed. Thank you for checking on me," Adrien replied.

"As if there's any reason I wouldn't have?" she smiled. "Ohhh... I am _so_ glad that you're okay, Chat. I'd give you a hug, but..."

"This is the one time that I think I'd turn that down, for your sake," laughed Adrien. "I must smell like a skunk that's been dragged through a landfill. Don't use that alley over there," he pointed, "that's where my street clothes are."

"Understood."

With a "Good luck!" and a wave, Ladybug swung off towards a nearby rooftop.

* * *

Sweeping the meter back and forth, Adrien found that Ladybug's detector was tricky to use, but effective. It was sensitive enough to pick up his lost ring, but the effect was subtle at a distance. He got the hang of it fairly fast, however, and his sweeps became smaller and more focused as he got closer.

Once the detector's feedback seemed to have maxed out, Adrien ditched the boxes and got down on his hands and knees. He was rewarded with a black-and-green ring after a minute of searching like that, which drew a HUGE sigh of relief from him.

Plagg popped back into existence as Adrien picked the ring up; he looked equally relieved. "I can't believe you just did that," Plagg muttered. "You came _this close_ to having to chase the ring halfway across town, because a mouse was sniffing at it and nearly picked it up! THAT would've been far too ironic to handle... Did what you did _work_, at least?"

"I think so. Wait a second..." Adrien noted, putting the box back over his head. "In case Ladybug comes back early."

Adrien told Plagg what had happened once the ring had gone flying. "I got _very_ lucky,_" _Adrien admitted. "If Ladybug had shown up while Hawkmoth's Akuma still had me, I had some vague ideas for what to tell her but I would have needed some _major _improv skills. I don't know if that would've worked. Faking out Hawkmoth might've even been easier than that."

"Maybe. If you resisted Hawkmoth even a little bit, that's a pretty exclusive club," Plagg marveled. "We'll talk about it later, okay? I doubt that you want to meet Ladybug again in underwear and a cardboard box." He sniffed the air and added, "And with a new cologne."

"I figured _you'd_ like that... But if you can mask that aroma at all when I transform, Ladybug'll appreciate that," smiled Adrien. "Claws out!"

* * *

Up on a rooftop across the street, a few buildings away from Adrien's stash, Marinette sat down and caught her breath while Tikki munched on a cookie.

"Feel any better?" Tikki asked, in between bites.

"Kind of. Chat and I will have to go over what was said, to see if Hawkmoth now knows things that he shouldn't, but that was pretty darn clever of him," Marinette replied. "Once he finds the ring and I'm sure that he's okay, maybe I'll be able to sleep tonight."

"Hey, Marinette?" ventured Tikki. "Don't be too hard on him _or_ on yourself when you go and talk to him. For one thing, that Akuma might still be around and we may need you two to be ready for action. For another... just be _yourself,_ okay? You two should be able to get back on the same page pretty easily."

"I promise," said Marinette. "I just hope that he finds that ring quickly!"

"With your lucky charm, I think he'll manage," Tikki said. "That way you can talk to him with your eyes uncovered."

"That _was _a bit more of Chat Noir than I'd ever seen before, wasn't it?" mused Marinette. "The 'who's underneath' Chat Noir, I mean. Nothing that I wouldn't see at the beach, of course."

"Of course," replied Tikki.

"If I ever went with him to the beach, that is. I'd need, like, a Ladybug swimsuit for that," Marinette rambled.

"Uh-huh."

"Whoever it is under the mask... he, um, works out," Marinette pointed out. _"Definitely_ in shape."

"He does, yes."

"Do you think that he..."

Tikki interrupted Marinette's thought by listening intently to nothing in particular for a moment. "Message from Chat Noir - he's back online," she noted. "And I'm ready if you are."

"I think so. Spots on!"

* * *

Chat Noir watched as his partner landed by his side... with somewhat mixed emotions evident on her face.

"Shall we go somewhere and talk?" she ventured. "I don't know how much time we will have... that butterfly could latch onto someone at any moment."

"I'd like that," said Chat. "And I don't know that it will... he seemed pretty set on targeting _me_. Chat Noir, that is, not the other me."

"We need to talk about that... what you learned, what he learned... but that's only part of it," Ladybug replied, as the two of them headed westbound. "I have some things that I need to get off my chest."

"About me?" Chat wondered. "About Adrien?"

"About a lot of different things. I promise that I won't bite," smiled Ladybug, sheepishly.

* * *

The pair settled on a rooftop of an apartment building; there were some folding chairs and simple furniture up there, indicating that residents used it to socialize when the weather was nice.

"Not bad," admired Chat. "We should make a habit of this, Bugaboo... drop some comfy chairs onto rooftops all over town. Make our own little getaway spots for nights like this."

_Funny,_ smiled Ladybug to herself, _I know a girl who has her balcony furnished comfortably and gets just that kind of visitor sometimes._

"Okay," she began. "I'm not going to ask if you're okay... because you're not. And I'm not, either. But I trust you very much, Chat; you're as close to me as I let anybody get. So can we help pick each other up off the ground tonight?'

"I'd like that," said Chat, softly. "This has been an... _insane_ day."

"First things first," Ladybug offered. "When we talked back there with Ryuko... that wasn't fair to you, and that wasn't nice of me. I've had some problems with how you keep... well, _pushing_ to be my boyfriend, but you weren't responsible for what we talked about tonight. Adrien was... and, truth to tell, even _he _wasn't all that responsible for a lot of it. If it sounded like I was calling you out tonight, throwing subtext at you, I didn't mean to, and I'm very sorry."

_That's so ironic it's a crime,_ mused Chat, helplessly.

"I'm not going to say that I don't have any lessons to learn," he replied, after a moment's thought. "And I'm not going to... well... look. Adrien can speak for himself, you know? He'll have to. I can't tell you what he was thinking." _As much as I would like to. _"But I wasn't torn up tonight over what you said about _me_, if that helps."

"And I dropped the identity of my crush on you like a ton of bricks. That couldn't have helped," Ladybug continued. "Even if it... okay, I don't know if it's _over_ or if I'm just overthinking it. I need to talk with him and I don't know what I'm going to say."

"I'm okay with that. It doesn't change things between you and me, right?" Chat said. "You had your heart set on someone else, and you still do. Knowing his name doesn't mean I'm going to act differently towards him."

"Then what was it?" asked Ladybug, her eyes pleading with Chat. "You are one of the strongest people I know, Chat. For you to get to a point where an Akuma chases _you_... something must've really hit you like a truck. And I saw your face and I heard your voice back there, and something _did_. And if I can understand what and why, I'd like to help you, if I can."

_How do I even answer that? _wondered Chat.

* * *

"Ladybug... there are some things here that I can't say. I wish that I could. But there are secret identity things going on here, things in my personal life. I have to be very careful here or I'll give away who I really am," Chat apologized.

"Then... be as careful as you need to be. But I'm still listening."

Chat's eyes went wide.

"Chat... I'm having a _really_ hard time with this Guardian thing so far," Ladybug struggled to say. "I have... secret identity things in my own life that are tearing me apart, too. I'm holding a lot of things together by a _thread_ and I was so afraid..."

His eyes went wider yet as he watched tears forming in Ladybug's eyes. "I was s-so afraid that I'd _lost_ you tonight. That I'd run my mouth and screwed something _else_ up and Hawkmoth had gotten my _partner_. My _friend. _If that happened... I have no idea what I would do."

"Ladybug... it wasn't like that," Chat soothed her. "I _promise_, you didn't cause this. I did."

"And maybe I need to let myself listen a little more to help you with that. So I'm listening," she sniffled. "I mean... still be _careful_... but say what you need to, okay?"

"I'll try."

* * *

Chat swallowed hard and measured his words carefully before beginning.

"Okay. I'm... I paid attention to what you and Ryuko said about what... Adrien did," he said. "What happened to Kagami... well, I can see why it hurt so much, _and _I can understand why he did it. It would have been cruel for him to string her along if it wasn't going to work out... but he should have thought of that before he let it start. I felt really bad for her, though."

"And I kind of get that, too," admitted Ladybug. "And even _she_ does. But when she reached out to me tonight..."

"Kagami reached out to _you_ tonight?" Chat wondered aloud.

"...That's kind of why I'm here, isn't it?" Ladybug replied, cautiously. "Obviously, we both know who she is."

_This could get tricky fast,_ she worried. _She reached out to Marinette; Ladybug was an unexpected side effect for her._

"Let me give you a little tip about girls, Chat," she said, hoping that hers was a disarming smile. "If someone does one of us wrong... word travels fast, and we compare notes! And when girl power's all charged up, we can get emotional. And I'm a girl, and I do that, too."

"I have no doubts at all that you're a girl," grinned Chat. "_And_ that you're caring and emotional. Some of the many reasons I'm crazy about you."

"Let's... leave that aside for now, okay?" Ladybug replied, her eyes apologetic. "What I'm saying is, we weren't going out to _hurt_ Adrien... but when she told me what had happened, we reacted, and we wanted to at least confront him and talk about it. I saw the hurt in Kagami's eyes and that _really_ hit me hard. Just like it seemed to hit you hard... when we told you about what happened to her, _and_ about what happened with Marinette."

Ladybug felt her nervousness increase as she saw Chat flinch at the mention of Marinette's name. "Is there something that you'd want to tell me?" she asked, gingerly.

* * *

Chat sighed heavily. "I can give you an answer you'd expect... or a real one," he ventured. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng and I are... complicated."

"I think I'd like to hear the real one," said Ladybug, her voice a bit hushed. "What kind of complicated?"

_"Good_ complicated, I assure you," smiled Chat. "Marinette is very, very special to me. We've known each other for about as long as I've been Chat Noir. She's... well, for a long while, she was the only good friend I had as Chat who wasn't costumed! Don't get me wrong there... I get along with just about everyone I meet like this. But she was the one everyday person that Chat could get close to."

"You know where she lives, right?" Chat asked, and got a nod from Ladybug. "I go and visit her sometimes, dropping in on her balcony, when I need someone to talk to or I just want some company. She's helped me through a lot of difficult times, and she's quite the charmer, too. She and I get along very well. Sometimes it seems like even better as Chat than when I'm..."

"When you're what?" prompted Ladybug.

"I'll get back to that," evaded Chat. "She's... also the only girl who's ever told me that she loves me."

"I... do remember that," Ladybug said, trying not to overreact. "That was around when her father got Akumatized, wasn't it?"

"Uh-huh. And he beat the _crap_ out of me when I tried to rescue her! One of the nastiest beatings I've ever taken." Chat winced at the memory. "But I'd do it again. Marinette is... well... when she told me that she loved me, I had to let her down gently because of, well, _you_. But I have to admit..."

Ladybug looked at him with some wonder, as his face grew wistful. "...I did have to think about that for a while. There aren't many girls on this Earth who compare to you, Ladybug... but she is one of them. And since then, there are times that I wonder if I did the wrong thing that day."

"Wow," replied Ladybug, more than a little overwhelmed.

"Especially since... maybe I shouldn't say this... I know her as my normal self, too. I have for a while now."

* * *

Ladybug froze in mid-thought, Chat's words echoing in her ears.

"You... _do?_" she gasped.

"Yeah," admitted Chat. "I mean, she doesn't know that I'm _this,_" he said, gesturing to his costume. "But she's a part of my life as myself, too. An amazing part."

"Stop. Stop, stop, _stop!_" begged Ladybug. "I mean, it's fine that you _know_ her and it's _great_ that you're friends with her and you're dancing _right on the edge_ of my knowing too much."

"Understood," Chat replied quickly, putting his hands up. "But when you were talking about Marinette getting her heart broken... well, it struck a major chord with me. A bunch of things lined up in my head, and maybe I could've stopped some of that pain if I'd realized them sooner. And now you know a little more about why I was so affected."

"I... I thought I owed you an apology, Chat. I might owe you a couple of them," stammered Ladybug.

_Holy CRAP... I knew that Chat's feelings for me were sincere,_ she shrieked in her head. _But he's that sincere about MARINETTE-me, too? That side of me means that much to him?_

"Hey," Chat interjected, seeing her increasing distress. "Can we shift gears for a moment? You're hurting, too. And if I can help with _that_, I want to."

* * *

Ladybug gave him a grateful smile. "I know, Kitty, and it's appreciated. My head is just..." She made an explosion gesture with both hands. "I have a ton of things that I need to work out now. Like, the whole Guardian thing... there are changes coming, and I need to decide what they should be, and I'm kind of figuring that out on the fly. I've already gotten an earful from Tikki tonight over one decision I made, and it won't be the last time that happens."

"Is there anything that I can do for you to help with that?" asked Chat.

"I know that there will be," replied Ladybug. "I need to change some things up from how Master Fu handled them, and I know that you're going to have a bigger role. You _need_ to. You've proven yourself a hundred times over, and I'll need your strength and courage and your good heart to help me find the right path. Not all of the Miraculous will end up going to the same people, or for the same reasons, for example... I'll want your opinions on that."

"You're going to make me blush, my Lady," Chat grinned.

"About some other things... I don't know _what_ to do yet. Like identities in general... I'm trying to figure out the right balance. I may end up _needing _to know yours, to know where the Cat Miraculous is at all times. I may need to _never_ know that for safety's sake. Or delegate that out to someone, or... oh, I don't know, Chat!" she whimpered. "Not yet, anyway. But I can promise that there won't be _as many_ secrets kept from you. I want to be your partner, not your boss."

"But like I said earlier with Ryuko... no matter who gets which Miraculous, we _are _all going to look out for each other. We're going to help keep each other strong. That much I know for sure."

"Whatever you need me for... I'm in," smiled Chat. "Always."

"That helps," Ladybug smiled back. "And that'll help me get my head straight again. It's hard enough being Ladybug, but the girl underneath is a major mess right now."

"Now, _that_ I can only help with so much," Chat observed. "For obvious reasons."

"You do more than you know," Ladybug beamed, then grew serious again. "One thing I can say is that just because I might not be throwing myself at Adrien Agreste now... I don't want you to view that as an open invitation, okay? I think I'm going to swear off dating _as Ladybug_ in general for a long while. I can't have that distraction factor while I'm making sense of everything else."

"That thought had never entered my mind," Chat lied through his teeth, then laughed when Ladybug raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay, you got me. But I do understand what you're saying; I'll make sure that I don't pressure you any time soon."

She reflected for a moment, "I'm not completely sure if I want to date as _myself_, either. I need to think about some things I've done, some ways I've acted, stuff I don't want to talk about right now, but... let's just say that boys aren't the only ones who have obsessions."

"I think it comes with the teenage hormones," suggested Chat. "Been there, done that, as if that's news to you."

That got a giggle out of her. "Just a little bit," she smiled. "Are you okay with that? That I'm not rejecting you personally at all, I'm just sort of... closing that door in general?"

"I am."

"Good. Because I need _you_ to be happy too, Chat," she said. "There is an amazing boy under that mask, whoever he is. Just like how there's a girl underneath this one. If you keep pushing to date Ladybug, you're not going to get very far. But can I tell you something?"

"Uh-huh?" half-whispered Chat.

"If you go out looking as _yourself_ someday, and you find the girl beneath this mask... and you tell her how you feel about her, the way that you were talking about Marinette a little while ago... she might surprise you."

Chat looked gobsmacked. "Is that a promise?" he stammered.

"Not exactly... but it _is_ something that any girl would want to hear," Ladybug smiled back.

* * *

They talked for another half an hour or so, mostly casually.

Chat noted, "It's not that I'm not enjoying this, because I truly am... we don't get to just sit and talk like this very often... but I do have some things at home that I'll need to take care of."

"Actually... me too," Ladybug agreed. "But making sure that we were both going to make it through the night was more important for me."

"Hey... you saw Kagami last. Is _she_ going to be all right tonight?" asked Chat. "She seemed like she was feeling a little better, but... I would check on her myself, but I don't know how she'd take to strange catboys parachuting onto her roof at night."

"I talked it out with her a bit more, and she'll manage well enough," Ladybug assured him. "She has some tiny company tonight for conversation, if you know what I mean."

"Tell her that I was thinking of her, okay?" Chat said.

"I will. I have a feeling that you'll hear from her sooner rather than later," smiled Ladybug.

_I wonder what she means by that?_ thought Chat. "And do you want me to talk with Adrien?" he ventured.

"Only if you run into him. Don't make a special trip of it," Ladybug pondered. "I will catch up with him at some point, now that I'm feeling more thoughtful... but you could let him know about the bullets he dodged tonight by not being home."

"All right, then. I'm going to go collect my street clothes and head home and take a much-needed shower. And _thank you_ for being here. That meant a lot to me," Chat smiled.

Ladybug stepped across and hugged him, faint dumpster aroma or no faint dumpster aroma. "_You_ mean a lot to me, Chat. Don't you forget that," she grinned, then launched herself homewards.

"Okay!" Chat mumbled to himself, once she was gone. "Now to go home and feel my head spin around for the next few hours..."

* * *

Next time:

* A sleepless night. (Yes, that one I've been promising.)

* "Are you busy?"

* "No one... has _ever..._"

* A pause for reflection.

* "Your friend's here again..."

* And more...


	8. At Night, The Ice Weasels Come

Chapter 8: At Night, The Ice Weasels Come

* * *

A day in the city of Paris lasts twenty-four hours, as it does all over the world. But time can be a very flexible thing in one's perceptions. If things are going your way, it can fly by in an instant and leave you wanting far more. And if things are more difficult and your life is full of complications...

...not so much.

* * *

Kagami Tsurugi stared at the alarm clock on her dresser. Two round eyes on its face stared back at her, along with a number just to their left.

About a minute later, _1 00 _became _1 01. _

She sighed quietly, knowing that her eyelids were not going to cooperate with her and close any time soon.

_This has been the strangest day of my life,_ she considered. _And ever since the Agrestes and the Miraculous entered my life, that covers quite a lot of ground._

Twenty-four hours ago, she had a budding relationship with her handsome new boyfriend, with whom she was beginning to master the finer points of kissing. She had another friend about whom she was rather concerned, knowing how strongly that friend felt about Adrien, and she felt an urgent desire to bridge that gap if that proved to be possible. A recent unexpected second chance to act as Ryuko had been a pleasant surprise... but having returned the Miraculous to Ladybug, she felt pretty sure that that chapter of her life was now over.

Perhaps not the standard set of choices and dilemmas faced by every typical teenager... but within the realm of plausibility.

And now?

Her new relationship had crashed and burned with minimal warning. Her friend, whom she'd gone to for advice, not only didn't kick her out on sight... she was sympathetic. She was compassionate. And, impossibly, she was also _LADYBUG!_

_I knew that Marinette was someone worth getting to know better, someone whose trust was worth earning,_ Kagami reeled. _Potentially a very close friend, albeit with our romantic rivalry threatening that all the while..._ _But THIS! How do I even begin to process what I know now?_

_She chose to trust me with her greatest secret. AND with a Miraculous! And with far more knowledge about herself, her feelings, her emotions than I sense she's shared with almost anyone else. _

_And she put herself out there to help me through my crisis, even though she KNOWS now that she's the one that Adrien truly wants!_

_How do I not simply _devote_ myself to a person such as that?_

As if that had not been enough, soon Chat Noir had joined the tête-à-tête... and in the moment, a truth unspoken nevertheless seemed to also leap out at her.

_His words, his body language, his appearance, his reactions to our shared pain, his overwhelming response to Marinette having been hurt... I do not know how Chat Noir could be anyone else but Adrien._

_It is so logical, isn't it? The three of us were becoming so close as our normal selves. We share a common secret, some common experiences. Standing side-by-side, defending each other against Hawkmoth's creatures, trusting each other implicitly... perhaps that helped draw us together, unconsciously._

_But if I am right... and if Marinette and Adrien have been honest with me, as I am sure that they have been... am I the ONLY ONE who suspects the full truth? That Marinette and Adrien both have no idea about each other's heroic side?_

That epiphany left Kagami wide-eyed, staring out into her dimly-lit bedroom.

_As insistent as Marinette was that she could never date Chat Noir... is there any way that this couldn't lead to disaster?_ Kagami wondered. _If Chat is Adrien... her dismissal of Adrien's feelings is mistaken. He DOES know her far better than she thinks he does. He IS sincere about her. _

_He IS... meant for her. _

_In love with her, and she with him. And no matter how strong my feelings for Adrien may be... I should not allow myself to impede that._

_But the one boy she craves would also be the one she says that she can never be with! Is there anything but pain waiting behind that eventuality?_

_If I am right about Chat... and I'm almost SURE that I am... __does that leave the door open for me? Or does it slam it shut?_

_Adrien and I have a real connection. There's no denying that._

_But Adrien and Marinette have deeper connections that neither one knows about..._

_...and Marinette and _I_ have a new connection. And it is one that I truly feel I would be a fool to risk breaking! _

_How do I even begin to figure out what to do next?_

She rolled over, feeling frustrated. A tiny dragon rested quietly on her end table, snoring quietly.

_And there's yet another surprise,_ Kagami smiled. _If this is more than a temporary thing... and from the way Ladybug talked, it just might be... I have a few adjustments of my own to make. It would not do for my mother to sense Longg's presence._

_This is all far too much to process right now. So I need to rest..._

_...somehow._

* * *

Across town, Marinette Dupain-Cheng considered adjusting the time that her phone was displaying.

Rolling it to another time zone wouldn't change the _actual_ time in her bedroom, of course... nor would pretending that it was 10:45 PM instead of 1:45 AM change when her mother would come looking for her if she didn't show for breakfast, or prevent her from looking like a red-eyed zombie at school soon after... but she might feel a little better imagining that there was _some_ chance of meaningful sleep that night.

_I have absolutely no idea what to do now._

_Adrien loves me... the Ladybug me. At least he thinks he does._

_But Chat Noir loves me... the Ladybug me... AND the Marinette me._

She rolled over, staring over the edge of her bed at the floor below.

_How do I even... _

_How does my whole damned LIFE turn upside down in just one week?_

She remembered how glad she was to see that Chat would be all right... and how quickly the look on her face had changed once she'd left his side and she could afford to let her innermost emotions out.

_Tikki just gave me a look when I got back here,_ she recalled. _She could see how shaken up I was... and that this was no time for more of a fight. I know that she'll want to go over everything I did tonight, everything I said to them, the philosophy I'm trying to follow as the new Guardian. In the little that we talked about it once we came home, she seems like she's at least satisfied that I'm not making HORRIBLE mistakes..._

_...And I'm not going to back down too lightly. Tikki is my friend, she's ancient and wise, and I'd be an idiot not to at least listen to her advice. But I need to at least try what seems like the best path forward, the smartest way to use all of the assets around me! That's a reason that I'm Ladybug... because I can connect the dots, see the patterns, find the logical leaps that some others can't. If I'm going to protect my friends, my partners, my __CITY... I need to follow my instincts._

_And trusting Kagami was part of that. Sure, it was a spur-of-the-moment thing... but it wasn't, entirely. I can't do this alone. I need people by my side who have "steel deep down" in them, like she thinks that I do. People who won't be afraid to act when it's needed. People I can rely on. And if I have to rule out everyone who's been compromised, thanks to Miracle Queen... Chat and I will be starting from scratch._

_She could be a vital part of our core group... and an amazing friend. Someone who can teach me so many things that I need to learn._

_And Adrien..._

A tear came to her eye, until her finger chased it away.

_She could be so good for Adrien, as well, if he'd still have her. If she'd still want HIM. And now that I know where Adrien's heart is set... on someone whom he just can't have..._

_...if I can help guide them back together, it'll help both of them and let me keep my mind on the more important things._

_And if he can't... I can at least let him down easy as Ladybug, and then..._

Helplessly, she laughed, a low chuckle that made Tikki raise up and steal a glance at her.

_Who could ever have imagined that Kagami and I were competing for Adrien's heart... and now, we might end up competing for Chat's?_

__Stop it_, Marinette,_ she ordered herself. _This is silly. For one thing, Kagami hinted that she might want to try spending time with Chat to get to know him better... that's all. Not that she was already head-over-heels for him. For another, you know that YOU'RE not going to fall for Chat Noir, right?_

_...Right?_

_I CAN'T!_ her brain shrieked. _I'm LADYBUG! Chat is the one person who's completely off limits to me! I KNOW that! Especially NOW!_

_But..._

_..._

_...no one... has EVER... said anything about me like what Chat said tonight._

_And he's someone who knows the real me. He told me that, right to my face! His true self knows Marinette!_

_I'm going to be looking at EVERYONE funny now... looking for the slightest hint, the tiniest wink, the smallest clue... everyone at school, every customer of the bakery, everyone I'm familiar with around town... _

_Or at least the ones who have abs like the ones I saw tonight. And since that ought to narrow it down a bit..._

_WHY did you have to tell me that, Chat? _

Flopping onto her back, Marinette's eyes closed and she let out a frustrated grunt.

_I can't do this right now. If I don't focus on the right things... on what's important... everything could fall apart with the next Akuma. Like the one that nearly took out Chat tonight... because of my decisions._

_And if I lose Chat... I'll have lost everything._

_I HAVE TO FOCUS._

_...Can I?_

* * *

Adrien Agreste couldn't sleep. He couldn't even stay horizontal. He found himself pacing the floor of his bedroom nervously, avoiding the clock on his desk whose speakers were waiting to pounce on him in a handful of hours.

_You need to sleep,_ he told himself. _You have two quizzes tomorrow, and you've got a massive hole to dig yourself out of... before you dig yourself out of your other massive hole._

_Ha. Fat chance of that._

The look he'd gotten when he came strolling through the gate and through the front door was enough of a headache. _I kind of feel like I had to do that - I wasn't out there as myself for long, but I did get hit by an Akuma... and sometimes I swear that the LadyBlog has spy cameras on drones out on patrol. If I showed up on there, glowing in purple, and then got caught in a lie like "Oh, I was home all night...," that'd be worse than being up front about "I went out for a long walk to clear my head." Father would have me, I don't know, flayed or something._

_...But Nathalie gave me the third degree about it. And the fourth, fifth and sixth. I may have to swear off my little nighttime cat-walks for a while._

_At least Plagg thought it was funny as hell, once we got back up here... he could barely speak, he was laughing so hard about everything that happened tonight. I'm glad that he finds my misery so entertaining!_

Adrien reached behind his head and rubbed it, absently. He scratched the heel of one bare foot with his other foot gently, and did his best to try to make the nagging voices in his skull shut up for a while.

_WHAT am I going to do tomorrow? __I'm going to walk into class, and Marinette will be there... and I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to say to her. No idea at all._

_She is... she is the puzzle that I just can't solve. _

_All this time, I've seen one Marinette Dupain-Cheng around me and a different one around everyone else, and I could never figure that out. I saw the first one around CHAT - a funny, sassy, confident girl who never let me get away with anything, and one of my favorite people anywhere - and a nervous, tongue-tied, awkward one around myself. I could never figure out the difference... and tonight, it slapped me across the face. And I deserved it._

_But even when she was unsure and nervous around me... every time Marinette smiled at me, I felt a tingle run through me. Every time she laughed, I wanted to join in. Every time I walked into that classroom and she was there... or she skidded into the room just as the door was about to close, more like... she brightened my day. _

_She lifted my mood, she confused me, she enlightened me, she frustrated me, she made me someone better, she showed me her best self, she LIED to me... and she blessed me every day I was near her just by being herself. _

_She made me question myself and she helped me find myself, in and out of my mask. _

_And the one thing that I couldn't understand was the question that her eyes were shouting at me, even if her voice wouldn't. Why I was the one and only thing on this planet that she was scared of._

_And I need to find a way to tell her all of that. _

_I don't know..._

Adrien sat down on the floor, his head swimming.

_Am I guilty of everything they said I was? I can't really defend myself about how I feel about Ladybug without revealing... well... things that I can't tell them. With Kagami, I've got a pretty long road in front of me. I know that I messed that up SO badly. I need to earn even a little trust back, and that's not going to be easy._

He turned and glanced at the clock, which said _3:34 _in a brilliant neon green.

_But with Marinette... I am just so... I don't know WHAT I am any more._

_I don't know what I would have done if she had told me. But if she HAD! Then I could have at least given an honest answer, and maybe... I don't know, she might have turned my head after all? One heartfelt smile from her and I don't know if I could deny her anything._

_I'm guilty of not giving Marinette something that she'd never asked me for... but that's still something that I should have realized. _

_But when I do see her again... knowing what I know now..._

_...what the heck can I say to her?_

From his position on the floor, Adrien sat motionless and waited for the first rays of the sun to arrive.

* * *

A climate-controlled environment, blackout drapes, silk sheets and a dose of melatonin were usually components of a good night's sleep for Gabriel Agreste. But this was no ordinary night.

_How do I begin to categorize this evening's events?_ Gabriel wondered, his body rigid, his eyes wide open.

_Once again, I had a suspicion that my son was my black-clad nemesis. Once again, he wriggled off the hook, somewhat plausibly. But once is a coincidence; twice is a conundrum. I waited to see if he would reappear in the house mysteriously, leaping through windows as Chat Noir might... and, instead, he came walking straight down the driveway, as his everyday self._

_He may be fiendishly clever, he may be merely lucky... or he may simply be my son._

_If I take this at face value - that Adrien really is innocent, that he was so troubled by the Dupain-Cheng girl that he needed to run out into the night, straight into the path of my Akuma - what does that tell me?_

_Are there any teenage boys who do not become melodramatic over their female peers? Lord knows that I did at his age. A time in one's life in which trivial slights and frivolous statements are perceived as life-shaking catastrophes. _

_But, __typically,__ my son is above such weaknesses,_ Gabriel frowned. _He may be the one person in all of Paris whom I would not wish to target, to... break in that fashion. _

_And yet, there he was this evening, seemingly heartbroken. How had I not noticed this before?_

Gabriel rolled his eyes, involuntarily. _Because I had not been paying close attention, naturally enough. And when he expressed it to me, when I witnessed it firsthand... _

_...it shocked me back into being a parent. At least momentarily._

He felt a hand clench into a fist in frustration. _I said such things... I should not have said out loud what I did. How badly have I compromised myself?_

_And I must remember... I cannot simply approach him __now __and try to ease his burdens, as Gabriel Agreste would have no knowledge of that conversation. I shall have Nathalie test the waters, perhaps._

_Should I consider working this into my plans, somehow? Allow him to consider a relationship with the girl, then meddle in it so as to finally Akumatize her? Something about her keeps telling me that despite her youth and simple appearance, there are depths there worth exploring. Perhaps she could be the key to finally defeating Ladybug and Chat Noir._

_Or my son might be._

He raised a hand to his forehead, feeling tense and uneasy. _I cannot shake the sensation that, all of a sudden, so many things are dangling by a thread. That the entire equilibrium of this... twisted game that we play is exceedingly fragile, and a sudden move could send everything tumbling down._

_So what IS my next move, then?_

_What dare I attempt?_

* * *

The sun eventually did what it was best known for... which was creeping up over the horizon at the break of dawn. Bodies pulled themselves up to vertical positions, showers steamed up bathroom mirrors, breakfast and coffee were consumed slowly, questions were answered in low and dull voices, and the outside world was ever-so-grudgingly faced.

On her way into Françoise Dupont, Marinette's unenthusiastic mood did not escape notice.

"Hey!" called Juleka, as she and Rose approached. "How's it... going? Whoa... you don't look so hot."

"Are you okay, Marinette?" Rose asked, sounding concerned. "Did something happen over the weekend?"

"You could say that..." mumbled Marinette. "I'm okay, I'm okay. I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

"A lot?" asked Juleka, as the three girls formed a line walking together.

"A little?" prompted Rose.

"Not sure if any," Marinette admitted. "I had some things on my mind."

"Anything that we can help with?" asked Rose.

"I don't think so... but thank you for asking," said Marinette, with a slow smile. "I'm just dragging myself through the day, that's all."

* * *

The three of them entered Ms. Bustier's classroom together, finding the room mostly full already. Alya gave Marinette a small wave, followed by a funny look. Nino seemed engrossed in conversation with Adrien, who appeared just as exhausted as Marinette did.

"Good morning, Adrien, Nino," ventured Marinette, as she walked by the boys' seats.

Nino greeted her back. Adrien looked up at her... and his usual warmth was visibly absent. "H-hi," he stammered... and then his head turned down and away, as if he couldn't look at her for more than an instant.

_Huh_? thought Marinette as she walked up to her own seat. _That was strange! It didn't sound like he was mad at me, or anything like that. More like he was... scared?_

Alya reached over as Marinette sat down and rummaged through her purse for her notepad and pen. "Are you okay, Marinette?" she half-whispered. "You look like you've seen a ghost, or something."

"M'okay," Marinette mumbled, sleepily.

"What is going on?" Alya continued, with a slight head-nudge in Adrien's direction. "Did something happen between you two?"

Marinette remained silent. She listened in, trying not to eavesdrop too obviously, as Nino resumed his conversation with Adrien.

"Check YOU out," smirked Kim as he walked by the pair. "Sparring too hard with your fencer girl this weekend?"

"Not exactly. We broke up," Adrien retorted, without turning his head.

_"What?"_

A half-dozen nearby heads whipped around at that statement, including Alya's... who then noted Marinette's visible lack of surprise.

"Wait, what happened?" Alix piped up. "You two looked super-cozy on Friday..."

"We. Broke. Up," Adrien repeated. "It's a long story."

"You don't have to tell us now if you don't want to," sympathized Mylène.

"The hell he doesn't!" declared Chloè, a bit too loudly. "What, did she _dump you_?"

"It isn't any of your business," Adrien stated in a firm voice, looking coldly in her direction. "But, no, she didn't. It was _my_ fault."

Alya's head whipped back and forth between Adrien's visible distress and Marinette's resigned expression. "Do you know something?" Alya whispered.

Marinette shook her head slightly, indicating that she didn't, which Alya wasn't buying for an instant.

"I am _certain_ that this is quite an interesting circumstance," Ms. Bustier spoke up, turning her attention away from the papers on her desk, "but perhaps it is something for another time and place?" She gave Adrien a sympathetic glance and added, "As for now, I would like to get today's lesson started..."

_Thank you_, Adrien mouthed silently back at her.

* * *

As she walked out of the classroom some time later, Marinette barely registered Alya's stream of whispered questions. She was pretty sure that her friend could tell that simply remaining upright and headed in the right direction was a minor triumph for her in the moment.

_I have to wonder,_ Marinette thought, _did Chat Noir get to Adrien last night? If he did, how much did he tell him? That Ladybug and Ryuko were out looking for him? That Ladybug was dismissive of his crush? Either would be enough to knock him for a loop,_ she reasoned. _Or is he just overwhelmed by what happened with Kagami?_

"Marinette..." Alya said, trying to get her attention.

_I can't imagine that Chat would have been rude to him. He __IS a friend of Adrien's. It can't have been easy finding out that Adrien was his rival for my affection..._

"Marinette?" repeated Alya.

_...but he wouldn't have lashed out at him or have been mean about it, would he? That wouldn't be like him. Chat may be insistent that we're soulmates, but he'd-_

"Marinette?"

_THAT wasn't Alya's voice._

She turned her head to see a weary-eyed Adrien standing next to Alya, with Alya's face screaming out _Hell-O! Pay attention! _silently.

"H-hi," Adrien managed. "Are you busy?"

"I was j-just heading to lunch," Marinette murmured, her brain snapping to attention. "So I have a few minutes."

"I was wondering..." asked Adrien, then trailed off. He closed his eyes and mumbled, "I have to do this."

"Do what?" asked Marinette.

"Could we go somewhere and talk for a few minutes?" wondered Adrien. "There's... something that I'd like to ask you."

"Okay..."

Alya watched, feeling unsettled, as Marinette and Adrien walked down the hallway together.

_That wasn't a can-I-ask-you-to-the-movies-with-me kind of nervousness,_ Alya pondered. _That was... something else entirely._

_WHAT is going on?_

* * *

Next time:

* "Your friend's here again..."

* Right words, wrong everything else.

* "Can you PLEASE tell me what is so freakin' funny?"

* Eyes of concern.

* A fishing expedition.

* And more...


	9. When You Hear The Door Close

Chapter 9: When You Hear The Door Close

* * *

As Marinette walked with Adrien, she couldn't deny that a touch of her customary thrill was there... but it was tempered with worry that weakened it greatly.

_He does not look happy,_ Marinette thought. _He doesn't look like he slept a wink last night, for one thing, so I guess we're even there. He wasn't himself when I came in today, and he looks and sounds troubled now._

_What's he going to ask me? Did Chat talk with him after all? Will it be something to do with Kagami? He's come to me for advice about her once before..._

"So... where should we go?" she asked him, as nonchalantly as she could muster.

"I'm... not sure," Adrien mumbled back. "I hadn't thought this through, entirely. Someplace where we can talk alone. Right now I'm just kind of... walking."

"I see," noted Marinette. "How about the back of the library? It's quiet, and it's not very populated this time of day."

"That's a good idea," replied Adrien, and a hint of a smile crossed his face. "And we probably ought to hustle, so we'll have enough that time to talk. Shall we?"

He reached out his hand towards hers...

Marinette's mind flashed back to the time the two of them had been running from his bodyguard near the subway trains. That was a pure pink-cloud sensation. What was this?

_Who am I kidding? I'd follow him anywhere. That hasn't changed._

She took his hand, and the two of them started to run.

* * *

"I think that was all the energy I had today," Adrien chuckled, catching his breath.

"Same here," agreed Marinette.

The two had stopped running once they got to the library - certain rules of quiet and decorum simply had to be followed, after all - but even the enthusiasm and vigor of youth reached its occasional limits. Now, regaining her composure sitting across from Adrien at a table in the back, Marinette's nerves hadn't settled... and, clearly, neither had his.

"So..." Adrien began.

"So," she echoed. "What did you want to ask me, Adrien?"

"I'm not sure how to ask this. It's something that I kind of need to know... but that you may not want to answer," he evaded.

Marinette felt a little tremor run through her. _I think my instincts were right_, she worried. "Adrien, you can ask me anything. I'll be honest with you, I promise," she said.

"I've always believed that," he replied, "and I know that you'd never _want to_ lie to me."

She froze in place.

_WHAT?_

"Marinette... I spoke with a mutual friend last night. Someone whom we both know, someone whom I trust completely. They told me something very important, something that I didn't really want to believe, because if it was true, I'd messed up _badly_."

_Who does he mean by that? Chat, or Kagami?_

"What did they say?" breathed Marinette.

"That you were in love with me... and that I broke your heart."

* * *

For a moment, Adrien wondered if he'd actually seen Marinette's soul leave her body. Just for an instant, floating behind her, trying to flee before her body sucked it back inside.

Her eyes were big and staring straight ahead. Her lips weren't moving.

Finally, she spoke.

"Adrien... Kagami is _absolutely amazing_. The more that I get to know her, the more I like her. If you broke up with her because you were worried about me, for some reason..."

She trailed off as she watched him shake his head slowly. "Well before that. What happened with Kagami wasn't part of that, I promise you. And I am going to do everything I can to make up for how I treated her, because I've realized how terribly I handled that."

Marinette shook her own head, searching for words. Her head joined her legs in feeling like a lump of iron.

"Marinette... twice so far, you've told me that you didn't have any romantic interest in me. That you were just 'really into fashion' the day after Troublemaker was at your house. That you were just play-acting that day in the wax museum, pretending to be someone you weren't, and that we were simply friends." Adrien's voice wavered a bit. "And I believed you both times... because it was _you_ saying it. I knew you well enough to know that you would've told me if that wasn't true."

"But from what I was told last night... it _wasn't._ If I'd kissed you back in the museum, or at the picnic, or that time we were slow-dancing, or at the movies, or... any other time I had the chance... things might have been very different between us."

"And I didn't believe _that_ at first... except for who it came from. And I thought very hard about it. I asked myself, 'If Marinette_ did_ have feelings for me that way, how would she have acted?' I thought about all the times we've been together, things that you've said, all the kindnesses you've done me. The kiss at the Heroes' Day picnic. The way you reacted to me that day at the museum. The handwriting on an unsigned Valentine."

Her face betrayed her at the last part, her expression shouting out _You CHECKED that? You'd KEPT that?_ wordlessly.

"And it all came crashing down on me. _Dozens_ of signals I'd missed. I've been blind as a bat, Marinette... but I need to be sure. I have to hear what your answer is..."

He watched tears beginning to form on Marinette's face, and flinched. "Wait, wait, wait!" he begged her. "Listen to me first, okay? I need you to know that I'm _not mad at you_. I'm not... I'm not judging you in any way, Marinette. I just... I just need to understand."

"Are you really going to make me say it?" said a tiny voice, escaping from Marinette despite her best efforts to contain it.

That silenced Adrien. "No," he replied, his face falling. "I think that... I got the answer that I needed."

* * *

"If you think that I _didn't want to_ tell you... you're wrong."

Marinette took a deep breath, watching Adrien's eyes plead with her. _Then why didn't you?_ they were screaming out.

"I know that you're new to a lot of things, Adrien. You've been sheltered, the way that your father's kept you penned in. Well, I'm new at this, too," she gasped. "I've never paid all that much attention to boys, or had one in particular capture my heart... until one day, out in front of the school, this boy that I'd misjudged opened up to me and shared some of himself with me. He was willing to trust me that way. And then he reached out with an umbrella, to keep me dry, and I just... I just..."

She watched that wash over Adrien, that she'd been pining for him for that long, nearly the entire time that they'd known each other.

"I was _scared,_ okay? I'd never felt anything quite like that. I thought that maybe it was just a little crush, so I put some effort in to try to get to know you better, to learn more about you and to be a better friend and see how it felt. And it just kept growing and growing."

"And when I asked you about it...?" wondered Adrien. "You didn't think that I would've been mean to you about it, did you? That I didn't think the world of you?"

"N-no, never," Marinette breathed. "I know you better than that; you'd never hurt anyone on purpose. But I'd never gotten... signals back from you, that you were interested in me that way, so I..."

She slumped down in her chair. "I was just _terrified_ that you would let me down easy, shatter my dreams in a sweet and caring way, and that would hurt twice as much than if you _were_ a jerk about it. Because then I could make a clean break with it, you know? But when it's... well, like this..."

"I swear to you, Marinette," Adrien emphasized, "I never knew. I don't know how I missed it so many times, but _I never knew for sure_. I don't want that to sound wrong... I knew that you cared about me, and I cared about you. I had a suspicion once or twice, that you might've... but when I asked you directly..."

"I just _couldn't,_ Adrien. I'm so sorry," lamented Marinette.

"It can't be helped," mused Adrien. "Had you told anyone _else?"_

"Alya," sniffled Marinette. "The girls all knew. Heck, our whole _class_ knows. The day that I kissed you at the picnic, everyone but Chloè cheered for me."

"That does explain a lot," allowed Adrien, looking rather stunned.

Marinette paused before her next question. "If you _had_ known... if I had found the nerve to tell you, Adrien... would it have made any difference?"

* * *

Adrien processed that for a moment. "How could it not have?" he asked her. "By not knowing, I hurt you."

"You loved someone else. And that's okay," Marinette said, flatly. "And it seems that you still do."

_And when I confirmed it just now that I'm in love with you... you didn't rush into my arms, and you didn't say 'I love you, too.' You looked worried and scared. And that's the answer that _I_ needed to hear._

Adrien nodded, slowly. "You talked with Kagami," he noted. "Of course you did."

"I did. She and I have even more in common than we'd thought," she replied. "She told me what happened yesterday between you two... and why you broke it off with her."

Marinette closed her eyes. "When you told me about 'the girl that you love' that day in the car... I was so sure that you meant Kagami," she half-smiled. "I wasn't ready to accept it that day. I hadn't gotten to know her well yet."

"I can tell you that it wasn't her that day. I guess you know who I meant now," Adrien ventured, to which Marinette nodded. "And by the time that I had figured out that maybe you _had _been interested before... well, you have Luka."

That reopened Marinette's eyes. With a look of confusion, she blurted, "Who said that I have Luka?"

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait," stammered Adrien, his hand going to his head. "I... this is too important for me not to get it right. I know that he's completely into you, that he told you so directly, I've seen the two of you together..."

"People see _us_ together all the time, Adrien. Do I have _you?"_ asked Marinette, gently.

She watched his facial expression plummet.

"Luka is an absolute _sweetheart_," Marinette explained. "No, I'm not blind to him. He's made it clear that he likes me very much, he'd like to be much more than friends, and I think that if I responded that way... I _could _'have him' in about ten seconds. And there's a part of me that has thought about that. I... kind of had my phone in my hand last night, thinking about it." She gave Adrien a sad smile and added, "But I haven't done that. We're not _there_ yet, and we haven't been."

"Oh, _no,_" Adrien stammered. "If I'd known that... Kagami had warned me to be extra-careful with you when she and I talked about being together, but I'd told her... I knew that you had someone else, that you didn't have feelings for me... that way..."

"I know. She told me about that," sighed Marinette. "It stung a little the first time I saw you kissing, I won't lie. I'd spent months imagining what that would feel like."

_Nnngggh! _Marinette grunted to herself. _Don't take the conversation down that road!_

"But you had closed that door a while ago," she conceded. "Seeing you two kissing was just the click of the lock sliding into place."

"And I hadn't even realized there was a door," mumbled Adrien, uncomfortably.

They both sat quietly for a moment.

* * *

"I haven't answered your question properly," Adrien continued.

"Which one?" asked Marinette.

"If it would have made a difference if I'd known. And that's because, the way that you'd meant it... I'm not sure. I thought I was... but I'm not. Everything I thought I knew has fallen apart."

_I was so sure that she was with Luka now, that she was happy, that she'd moved on from me. Could... could she STILL feel that way?_

Adrien's face grew cloudy. "I have to say this very carefully," he ventured. "Marinette... I _do_ love you. I know that I do. I don't know if I'm... _in_ love with you. I don't know if I'm _in love_ with _anyone,_ or if I really understand what that even means any more."

"Well... there's something I'd dreamed of hearing you say someday, but not exactly like _that,"_ boggled Marinette. "Can you explain?"

_Can I?_

The throbbing in Adrien's skull intensified as he made the attempt.

"I have a girl in my life who means _so much_ to me. Someone who is brilliant, who's beautiful, who's courageous, who's insightful. A girl whose compassion and charm are endless. Someone that _everyone_ should be in love with," said Adrien, staring at Marinette intently. "And whom I found out I'd had a real chance with, and I blew it, because my mind was somewhere else and because she couldn't wake me up to that. And if that doesn't change, it's something I may regret for as long as I live."

Marinette wasn't sure if there was a sudden earthquake on the Françoise Dupont campus, or if it was just her brain. _Do not stop talking,_ she mentally ordered him.

"And I have another girl in my life who's intriguing, who's intelligent, who's also beautiful. Someone who's struggled with a lot of the same things I have growing up. And she's the only person who's ever looked me in the eye and said 'Adrien, I want to be yours.'"

"Chloè doesn't count?" mumbled Marinette.

"Only to ten. After that, she pulls out the calculator," Adrien snarked. "But when Kagami approached me, when she poured her heart out towards me, I felt like... I felt like I needed to respond. I needed to _try_. This wasn't someone random, this was someone who also means a lot to me. So I tried... and that was a mistake. Not because there's anything wrong with her... but because of _me_."

"Which she knows," Marinette soothed him. "Not that it makes it much easier for her to handle."

"I _promise you_ that I will make things up to her, somehow. I've probably burned some bridges permanently, but I would never want to lose her friendship."

_He is sincere about that,_ noted Marinette. _As I was sure that he would be. That'll help._

"And then there's the third girl..."

"Let's talk about her," interrupted Marinette. "Because I have to say that I am _super-curious_ as to what you have to say about Ladybug."

* * *

Adrien swallowed hard.

"You really _did _talk with Kagami," he noted.

"I have to admit that who it was came as a surprise," Marinette replied, marveling at her own talent for understatement. "What can you tell me about her?"

"Well..." Adrien stumbled. "The way that you described that out-of-nowhere rush, a moment that kickstarts feelings that you've just never had before? I had one of those with her. A couple of those."

"I have... seen at least some of those moments. The time you jumped off a building and she caught you, that's one? My heart nearly stopped that day," groaned Marinette.

"Earlier than that. From the second day that I knew her."

Marinette ran through her mental calendar at breakneck speed, as fast as her aching brain could handle. _Which one was THAT? The day I was fighting the Mime and, suddenly, he was there in the car window? Was that the second time we'd met?_

"I could go on all day about her, but I'd rather not," Adrien demurred. "I don't want to hurt your feelings by talking up someone else. Not when you remind me so much of her."

"But... Adrien... I had my awakening moment like that, but then I spent all year getting to know you better. Doing everything I could to become part of your life. Doing a few things that I'm... not that proud of, even," admitted Marinette, sheepishly.

"You did? Like what?" wondered Adrien, raising an eyebrow.

"_Never mind that_ right now. What I'm saying is... what _am_ I saying?" Marinette's exhaustion and turmoil piled up on her thought process, weighing it down significantly. "I may not have had the courage to tell you how I felt, Adrien... but I was _there._ We've done so many things together all year long. You and Ladybug have had moments together... but was there more than that between you, somehow?"

"I'm not trying to pick on you about this. I'm _not_," Marinette added to Adrien's reddening face. "But like you said to me... I just want to understand."

* * *

_I have no idea how to answer her. This is impossible without giving everything away._

"There are... certain Ladybug things that I can't talk about, even with you, Marinette. I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"Things? What kind of things? Not... _identity things_, surely?"

_Adrien, if you claim that you know who Ladybug is behind the mask but you can't tell me, I am coming RIGHT OVER THIS TABLE at you_, Marinette mentally growled.

"N-no! Not like that! I mean..." The shade of green that Adrien was turning distracted Marinette away from that train of thought.

"Are you all right?" asked Marinette, suddenly concerned. "Look, I don't need to know _everything_. If you can't tell me some things, that's fine. But I'm just trying to wrap my head around... why it didn't work. And a big part of that is _on me, _I _know it is_. I lied to you about my feelings, and I'm so sorry about that."

Internally, she frowned. _He's being evasive. Either he's hiding something... or there really isn't much more to it. And I don't like either of those choices very much._

She kept going over top of Adrien's silent protest. "That's one reason I'm... okay with you with Kagami. She was scared, too, but she didn't hesitate like I did; she was ready. I wasn't." Her voice wavered a bit more. "And then I was like, _that_ crashed and burned, too, so her confidence wasn't what you were looking for, either! And she has _everything else_ to go with it! She was _so perfect_ for you. And that's what I'm trying to figure out, Adrien."

"What it is that you truly want... and who it is that can give that to you. Because I want you to have that, more than anything else."

* * *

_Not five minutes ago, I spoke the words out loud, '__Marinette, __I do love you.' Isn't that a pretty big clue?_

"I'm... not sure any more."

_You were on my mind half the night, Marinette. Once Ladybug told me how you'd felt about me... once I thought hard about what I'd missed out on... you were all I could think about. Even when I thought that you were over me and with Luka now. And if you're not... what could that mean for us?_

"It seems like I'm not very good at any of this. I was blind to you, I was hurtful to Kagami, and it sounded like Ladybug's not very fond of me right now, either."

_Maybe I have been overlooking the obvious all this time. The girl I should have been with all along. _

"I need to think about this... to figure out how I got so far off track. If my feelings are as sincere as I think they are."

_For Ladybug... for Kagami... and especially for YOU._

"What do _you_ think I ought to do, Marinette?"

_I don't know if this is a good idea or not. I don't want to do to you what I did to Kagami - to try very hard and then find that I can't do it, that my feelings are still locked onto Ladybug. Even though it sounded like I squandered THAT chance for good._

_If I break your heart twice, I'd DESERVE that Akuma that nearly got me last night. _

_But the one who deserves everything they truly want is YOU. And if you were to ask me, right here, right now... I don't think I could say no._

_I know I couldn't._

_And I don't think I'd want to._

* * *

Marinette heard Adrien's words, saw the vulnerability in his eyes, felt the need pouring out of him... and, for a moment, her heart melted all over again.

_If I didn't know better, I would swear that he was... that he was inviting me to..._

_No. _

_Concentrate, Marinette, this is important. You're exhausted, you're drowning in anxiety, and the last thing you need is to let your imagination run away with you again. You thought this out all last night, and you have the red eyes to prove it._

"What I think," said Marinette, cautiously, "is that the first thing you ought to do is make things right with Kagami. As much as you can. I saw how badly she was hurting yesterday, and it just... overwhelmed me. I can play go-between like this, talking with each of you, but if you talk to each other, that'll work so much better."

"You're sure?" asked Adrien, layering several meanings behind the two simple words, his eyes bright and alert.

"Kagami and I have gotten very close lately. And you _know_ that you and I are close,_" _Marinette smiled, wearily. "So if the three of us are going to keep spending time together... which I want us to, very much... we need to fix this."

_I can't think straight right now. I need to simplify my life as best I can... and that'll be a big step. Something that'll let me focus on how to be a decent Guardian. Something that'll ease the pain of two people whom I care about._

"Okay. I agree with that," Adrien said, forcing himself to relax. "I never wanted to hurt her. I hope you both know that."

"Of course you didn't," Marinette chided him, gently. "That would be so unlike you that it shocked me when it happened."

"...And?" prompted Adrien.

"Well, let's see how _that_ goes first. I can't speak for Ladybug, obviously..."

"But you have talked with her about me," blurted Adrien.

Marinette frowned. "How do you know about that?"

_Oops!_ "...Chat Noir told me. He mentioned it when he talked to me about last night. That she knew about your heartbreak because you'd told her," Adrien attempted, crossing mental fingers.

"That does make sense..." _As much sense as anything does right now, with my head this foggy. "_What I'm saying is, I can't tell Ladybug what to do or think. If she wants to talk with you, I'm sure she'll pop up when you least expect it," replied Marinette. "And if there are things that you can tell her that you can't tell me... I'd say them to her if that happens."

"I... have to think about that." _The one thing I want to say the most is what Ladybug's ordered me not to tell her_, thought Adrien. "And, um... what about you and I?"

He held his breath.

"You're not the only one who's reevaluating things," Marinette said, thoughtfully. "But I'll tell you this much. There's a sweet boy across the table from me right now, who brought me here because he was worried that he'd hurt me. I know that with a friend like him in my life, we'll help each other figure this out."

"I'd like that very much," smiled Adrien. "Though it looks like I just talked both of us out of our lunch period, judging by the time."

"That's okay. I wasn't very hungry, anyway."

The two of them stood up, facing each other, each of them searching for what to say next. Adrien edged forward slightly, then stopped himself. He put his arms out and asked, quietly, "May I?"

"Of course you can."

Marinette leaned forward into a shared hug. No pink clouds, no tension, no rush of adrenaline... just pure comfort for each of them.

_Maybe this is the way that it should have been all along,_ she thought.

* * *

A few hours later, Sabine Cheng watched the stairs carefully as she heard her daughter return home from school. A sleepy-eyed girl emerged from them and joined her in the family kitchen.

"Well, hello," Sabine greeted her. "How did your day go?"

"Okay," replied Marinette.

"Uneventfully, I hope? I almost told you to stay home today, the way you looked at breakfast," worried Sabine. "Is everything all right, Marinette?"

"Not really? But I'm piecing it together," she replied. Quickly, she ran through the basics: she and Adrien and Kagami had been becoming close as a trio of friends, then Adrien and Kagami were a romantic couple, then they suddenly weren't. Kagami had come to her for advice, Adrien had come to her today, and now she was juggling a few dozen emotional plates at once.

Sabine took it all in, concern visible in her eyes. "My poor dear! No wonder you're running yourself ragged right now," she sympathized. "I don't know what to suggest you should do, I'll be honest. But do me one favor and keep me in the loop, okay? I'm worried about you."

"I will, I promise," said Marinette. _As much as I can._

"Don't worry about helping in the bakery today; your father and I can handle it just fine. Go upstairs and rest and relax, all right? Now you can take a little time just for yourself," Sabine smiled.

From down in the bakery, Tom's voice rang out. "Marinette? Your friend's here again," he called.

Marinette and her mother looked at each other. "Or... perhaps not just yet," said Sabine.

* * *

Next time:

* Those "Next times" from last time? Next time for most of them. This conversation was more important.


	10. Sit Down Before You Fall Down

Chapter 10: Sit Down Before You Fall Down

* * *

Marinette closed her eyes and smiled, knowingly. _Of course "my friend's here again." __No rest for the wicked,_ she thought. _Though when WAS I wicked, exactly?_

"I'm assuming that he means Kagami. I'll go down and check," she said. As she turned to head back downstairs, her mother tugged gently at her blazer.

"Wait a second, okay?" said Sabine, and made sure that she had her daughter's full attention. "One more thing."

"What is it?" asked Marinette.

"Just keep something in mind. You are an amazingly giving young woman; that's one of your finest qualities. But I have a request for you. As shaken up as you are right now... don't ignore that, all right? If you're not up for whatever she wants, or if you're just... overwhelmed, you can tell her 'not today.'"

"I know, Mom. I will."

"Physically _or_ emotionally," Sabine added, not letting go yet. "This whole saga you just told me is half past crazy, and it's dragging on you, it's obvious. It's all right to think of yourself first sometimes."

Marinette leaned in and hugged her. "Yes, Mom," she smiled, dutifully. "I'm not leaving this house any time soon, I know that much."

Sabine let go and allowed Marinette to head downstairs. _I hope everything works out for the best,_ she thought to herself. _I don't know this Kagami well yet, but Marinette's vouched for her a few times. She sounds like a good influence, but Marinette has been pining for that boy all year, and I don't think I've seen many love triangles that ended well. _

_If anyone can find a way to thread that needle, it's Marinette, but... well... I just hope that she's careful._

* * *

Marinette emerged from the stairwell and found a familiar face rapidly making a familiar pastry disappear.

"Marinette, I am surprised at you! You don't seem to be feeding your friends properly," her father chuckled. "This young lady just came through the door looking like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. Thin as a rail, too."

"And you have just the thing to fix that, Dad?" Marinette grinned.

Across the counter from Tom, Kagami did not seem to be arguing the point. "_Thnnk yru!" _she managed, then swallowed a large bite. "Where are my manners? Thank you so much, Mr. Dupain. That was _delicious_, and most appreciated!" she beamed.

"Any time. But I doubt it was me that you came to see today," Tom smiled.

"Another black currant éclair like that, and you might be," Kagami marveled, then turned to Marinette with a sleepy smile of her own. "Hi," she greeted her. "I was wondering if we could talk again for a few minutes?"

"Sure," said Marinette, gesturing to the stairs. "We can hang out for a little while."

As the pair made their way up to Marinette's room, they stopped on the main floor of the house briefly. Approaching Sabine, Marinette called over, "Hey, Mom? I'd like you to meet Kagami Tsurugi. The girl whom I've been telling you about, you know?"

"I am delighted to meet you, Mrs. Cheng," Kagami ventured. "Your daughter and I haven't known each other all that long, but we're becoming fast friends."

"Charmed, I'm sure," Sabine replied, warmly. "Things are going a bit better than they were last night, I hope? You two went by in quite a hurry."

"Ah... yes, you could say that," said Kagami. "I have had a little time to reflect on what happened..." She looked over at Marinette and asked, "Have you told her about what that was?"

"I have. I share almost everything with my mother." Marinette gave her a knowing look, as if to say, _Except for YOU-KNOW-WHAT, of course._

"Then in so many words... Marinette talked me off the ledge about Adrien last night, so to speak, and a night to reflect on things also helped," replied Kagami, a little shyly. "It is hard to say what will come next, but Marinette and I are trying very hard to each go into this with open eyes. If either of us ends up dating Adrien, we want to remain friends _and_ have the other remain close with him as well."

"Exactly. No backstabbing, no betrayals, no drama if we can help it," agreed Marinette.

"That's very mature of both of you. I'm impressed," Sabine smiled. "Or you could always take turns going out with him for a while, and see how that goes..."

Both girls jumped slightly at that. Marinette looked at Kagami and noted, "That... isn't the first time I've heard that idea. But I don't know if Adrien is capable of thinking like that."

"I am not sure, either," Kagami agreed. "We're having a hard enough time getting him to be with _one_ of us. But it could be a possibility, if the two of us talk it out first."

"Time will tell. Kagami, shall we?" asked Marinette.

As they turned to leave, Sabine stopped them for a moment with a wry grin. "Black currant, right?"

Kagami looked startled. "Yes, actually! Your husband treated me to a heavenly éclair. How did you know?"

"Well, I know him very well... by now, I ought to... and there's the tiniest little bit right here," Sabine laughed, pointing to the corner of her upper lip.

Giggling through her embarrassment, Kagami accepted a proffered napkin, and the girls made their way upstairs quickly.

* * *

Adrien climbed into the back of the Agreste sedan. The Gorilla pulled away from the curb and began the trip home, while Nathalie sat in the passenger seat as usual.

"Hello, Adrien. How was your day?" asked Nathalie.

"Okay, I guess," Adrien managed, wearily, hoping that another interrogation wasn't imminent.

"Okay enough to ward off any more vanishing acts?"

_So much for that,_ sighed Adrien. "Yes, I will stay put tonight. I said I was sorry," he grumbled.

"You have to understand, Adrien, how concerned your father is about your state of mind," replied Nathalie. "He is pleased by your progress at Françoise Dupont, but he is _still_ skeptical about whether public school is the best environment for you. Erratic behavior and putting yourself in danger are hardly reinforcement of that."

"I didn't..." Adrien began, then redirected his thought. "I would hardly classify 'I went for a walk on a nice night' as 'I put myself in danger by acting crazy,'" he argued.

"You do recall that you are the son of Gabriel Agreste, correct? That we don't keep _him_ on the payroll just for his driving?" snapped Nathalie, pointing at the Gorilla. He turned with a small grunt, to which she reassured him, "Yes, your driving is more than adequate. Keep doing it."

Turning back to Adrien, she declared, "_His_ job is to keep you safe. _My_ job is to keep you where he'll know where you are, so that he can keep you safe. And your disappearing like that... _however_ you managed it... puts all three of us in your father's crosshairs. Got that?"

"Fine!" sulked Adrien, closing his eyes. The throbbing headache returned, right on schedule.

"I do not _want_ to yell at you like this, Adrien," Nathalie said in a more subdued tone. "You also understand _that_, I hope. Especially since it appears that you had one hell of a night last night. Did you get even a wink of sleep?"

"No, I didn't," Adrien admitted, still not looking at her.

"Is there something that I should know about?" she asked, and when no answer came forth, she persisted. "Are you in trouble with something you've done? Problems at school? Bullies giving you a hard time? Girl trouble?"

Despite his best efforts, he flinched at that last one. "Ahhh," Nathalie smiled. "Now, that I can understand, and maybe even help with somewhat. Issues with Miss Tsurugi?"

Adrien gave in. _I'm too tired to put up much of a fight,_ he lamented. "Yes... and no. Kagami is one of them."

Nathalie looked startled; the Gorilla, notably, didn't.

* * *

Upstairs, Marinette closed the door behind them. "I hope the rest of your night went better than mine did," she groaned. "Though you look pretty wiped out, too. Did you and Longg get to talk?"

"Oh, yes. And talk. And talk. And talk. He is _exceptionally_ good at that," smiled Kagami. "But he was very kind and understanding, as well. That was one reason that I stopped by today; I was not sure when I would need to return him to you."

"We... did some talking about that here last night. Tikki, Longg, can you come out, please?" asked Marinette.

The two Kwamis floated out of hiding, hovering next to their respective hosts.

"Greetings, Ladybug," Longg began, examining the room around him. "An interesting choice for a lair, but I can see its tactical applications."

"It's not so much a lair as a bedroom," Marinette explained. "Kagami's wasn't all that different than mine, was it?"

"A bit less pink," noted Longg. "I must tell you, I have been enjoying myself immensely these last few weeks, getting out into the world again the way that I have! I haven't spent this much time out of the box since-"

"...a very long time ago?" interrupted Tikki. "Sorry, old friend. I know you too well than to let you get a story rolling right now."

"Point conceded," chuckled Longg.

"As for you, Kagami," Tikki continued, "I am deeply concerned about your knowing Marinette's secret. I must insist that you keep that secret _very_ closely guarded, even from the other heroes. Not a word to your friends, not to your family, not to Adrien, not to Chat Noir. _Do you understand_?"

Kagami took Tikki's glare seriously. For a creature little bigger than a cricket ball, Tikki could be _intense_.

"I understand completely. I will guard it with my life," proclaimed Kagami.

"I am hoping that things won't go quite _that_ far," smiled Tikki. "But I do agree with Marinette on several things, including her need for dependable partners in this crisis and her assessment of your character. If you would like to continue as Ryuko for the near future, and you find yourself compatible with Longg, I feel like that would be appropriate."

"I could not be more honored. I will stand by your side as long as you will have me," Kagami declared.

"Good. That's what I'd hoped you'd say," replied Marinette. "Tikki and I may have our occasional differences of opinion... but her opinion is extremely important to me. We're more than partners in this, and I really wanted her approval of you."

Exhausted, she let herself plop down into her computer chair.

"Marinette... just how bad _was_ last night? You look like you're about to pass out," worried Kagami. "That's the other reason I came by tonight... when I left you last night, you were putting up a good front but you were already shaken up from what had happened. I wanted to come and check on you."

"You did?" Marinette looked a little surprised, in a good way.

"Of course I did. And your night got worse from there?" Kagami asked.

"Oh... you could say that. For starters, Chat Noir came _this close_ to being Akumatized."

Startled greatly, Kagami pulled up her own chair and prepared for quite a tale.

* * *

"Another girl?" Nathalie wondered aloud. "I thought that you and Kagami were getting very close. Downright cozy, if the kissing noises I overheard were what I thought they were."

"They were, and we were," blushed Adrien, "but I realized that it just wasn't right, that if I led her on any further it would just make things more painful later on. So I broke that off, and now I have a lot of work to do to put our friendship back together."

"Oh, my," gasped Nathalie. _Gabriel is NOT going to like that! He has a vested interest in those two remaining close; it would make ongoing negotiations with her mother so much easier. _"What made you do that?" she asked.

"My heart belonged to someone else... or at least I thought it did," confessed Adrien. "There was another girl for whom I'd been pining for a very long time."

"Hmmm," Nathalie mused. "She wouldn't have twin pigtails, would she?"

"Um..." Adrien stalled. "She does... but she might not be the girl you're thinking of." _I don't really want to mention Ladybug if I don't have to..._

That made Nathalie pause. "Explain, please?" she asked. "The baker girl, yes?"

"Yes, Marinette, from my class at school. And, yes... she is very special to me," breathed Adrien. "And I'm kind of coming to terms with _how_ special, all of a sudden. She and I had a long talk today, because I realized that she'd had feelings for me for months, and I was too blind to realize it."

"And the result was... what?" Nathalie prodded him.

Adrien stared back. "Why are you so interested in this?" he wondered.

"Because what affects you affects the business. It affects your father and how he may approach certain things. It affects one of Agreste's top models, who's got bags under his eyes right now from sleeplessness and should be glad that he doesn't have a photo shoot today," detailed Nathalie. "_And_ I might simply want to help you sort this out, if I can."

"Well, there are no major changes to report. Marinette and I are still good friends, and it sounded like she wants to keep it that way now. Kagami and I are going to talk things out, I'm sure, because we didn't end yesterday on a good note. Marinette is even willing to help with that. She wants the three of us to remain close with each other, no matter what." Adrien let out a long exhalation. "Good enough for now? I feel like a zombie, but I'll be ready for piano practice before supper."

"Don't worry about piano today," directed Nathalie. "Yes, I can make that judgment call without checking with your father. Go up and take a nap when you get home, before you fall down."

"Thank you. I think I will," smiled Adrien.

Nathalie suppressed a grin. _Don't thank me too much just yet,_ she thought.

* * *

Kagami listened intently to Marinette's story of Chat Noir's ordeal and what had followed it, trying to keep a straight face through most of it.

_I knew that Chat Noir took our conversation __hard __last night ... but THAT hard? That doesn't make sense... unless my hunch about him is right, in which case it's a perfect fit._

_And from the sound of things... life for all of us just got a whole lot more complicated._

"I shouldn't have said what I did to him. I _know_ that I shouldn't have," worried Marinette. "I'm asking for trouble."

"I don't know if I agree with you there," Kagami said. "You were honest with Chat, and Chat was honest with you. Can that be a bad thing?"

"I put the idea in his head that the girl underneath Ladybug's mask could be interested in him. That's not fair to him; he's the one boy in Paris who's completely off-limits to me, on multiple levels! And now that I know that he knows _the real me_ as his normal self, _and_ he's attracted to me..."

"Oh, no," Kagami swooned, theatrically. "A handsome young man with charm, grace, compassion and muscles is interested in me!" She watched Marinette's face contort and shifted into a more sympathetic tone. "I'm sorry, I know that you are taking this very seriously," she soothed Marinette. "And you should be."

"I have to!" moaned Marinette. "I'd be lying if I said that there was _nothing_ there. He is a sweetheart. He is someone I care about, very, very much. And while I don't know who he is under his mask, when I saw him out there wearing just a small cardboard box, he was kind of..."

"Kind of..." prompted Kagami.

"Yummy-looking?" Marinette giggled, slightly. "I used to say that if Adrien didn't exist, I might've given Chat a chance. But _these_ exist," she added, pointing to her earrings. "And as long as I have these, that slams that door shut. And now that I have that much more responsibility, it's even more important."

"Do you think that you can't date _anyone_ while you're Ladybug?" asked Kagami. "I'm serious. You're not going to close yourself off entirely, are you?"

"Well... the rest of the boys haven't exactly been lining up and breaking down my door," Marinette replied. "The way Chat talked about me, the feelings that he hinted at... I've never had anyone say anything like that about me. It's got my brain spinning." She took a deep breath. "But now, if anyone _does_, I'll be wondering in the back of my head... is _this_ Chat Noir? Is he acting on what I told him to do? Has he found me? And even if I think that's who he is, I can't _ask him_ if he is!"

Marinette looked across at Kagami with weary eyes. "It's an impossible box. I'm trying not to think too hard about it right now, but I can't help it. And then there was what happened _today_..."

* * *

Adrien stumbled into his room and resisted the temptation of stretching out on his bed. _If I get horizontal, I'm not getting up again any time soon,_ he reasoned. _And my brain might leak out of my ears._

"Well, _that_ was quite a day!" Plagg remarked with a chuckle, spiraling out of Adrien's messenger bag. "Another twenty-four hours like the last ones and you'll be-"

"Shut _up_, already, Plagg!" snarled Adrien, catching Plagg off-guard with his tone.

"Can you _please_ tell me what is so _freakin' funny?_" he continued, glaring at Plagg. "Ever since I met up with Ladybug and Ryuko, you've been laughing at some joke that only you understand. And I'm _dying_ over here and I'd love to know what the deal is."

Plagg stared back at him, suppressing the urge to fly away and hide. "Okay, okay. First off, I am not laughing _at_ you, Adrien. I can see that you're feeling pretty raw right now and I understand that. I'm sorry about that," he ventured. "But there are things about this situation that I _literally can't_ tell you."

"Like what?" asked Adrien. "I know that you can't tell me who Ladybug is, but I got a _pretty good idea_ of how she's feeling about me yesterday. I know that Kagami is Ryuko, so that's not a secret. And I talked things out with Marinette today and fished around to see if she was still interested, and clearly, she isn't. So I don't know what you're..."

He glared again at Plagg, who had started snickering again. "_What?_" Adrien yelped. "I told Marinette how amazing I know that she is. I told her that she was beautiful and brilliant, that everyone should be in love with her. That _I_ love her. And I left it open to see how she'd react to that... and she called me a _friend_ and pointed me back at Kagami."

Plagg attempted to compose himself... semi-successfully. "Okay, let me remind you of a few things, all right? You told her that you love her but you don't know if you're _in_ love with her, or with anyone else. She asked you about Ladybug, and you didn't tell her much..."

"What _could_ I tell her?" complained Adrien.

"She asked you about Ladybug, and you didn't give her anything to make her feel like you _know _Ladybug well," Plagg continued, undaunted. "So if she thought you had a shallow crush - _don't give me that face,_ I'm not saying that you do, and she didn't say that you did today! But if she thought your feelings for Ladybug were thin, she still might. Plus, you just broke up with her friend, and for _that alone_ she wouldn't respond to you even if she wanted to. It's in the Girls' Code or something."

Adrien stared back, wordlessly.

"There was a time that you could've been with Marinette with one word. This is not that time," clarified Plagg. "That doesn't mean that you _can't_, if that is where you think your heart is set now. But you've got work to do, rebuilding some burnt bridges. You saw her today. She wasn't crying her eyes out, she wasn't calling you names and acting hurt. She wanted to be with you and help you and be part of your life. For someone who was running on three working brain cells today... you did fine talking with her."

"I... don't know if that is where my heart is set or not. And like I said to Ladybug... that might be the first time I've even had _doubts_ about that since I met Ladybug," grumbled Adrien. "Kagami was and _is_ sweet and intelligent and intriguing... but that just felt kind of... different."

"That's good! That's good. You know why? That's an _honest_ reaction. So now Ladybug knows that, Kagami knows that and Marinette knows that, right?" bubbled Plagg. "So now you get to do the hard part. You get to juggle all three of them, stay close to all three of them, because _clearly_ you're not going to get anywhere with one if one of the others disapproves! And you get to try to figure out what you _do_ want right now. Even if it's none of them. Even if it's more than one."

"More than one?" Adrien's face froze, like an owl being asked to take a driver's exam. "But... how could that happen?"

Plagg grinned, evilly. "And _that_ is part of what's so funny. Sit back and listen, grasshopper. We're gonna talk."

* * *

Kagami's eyes were riveted on Marinette's face. "You two talked about your feelings today? With you half-awake like you are now?"

"In his defense," explained Marinette, "he looked just as exhausted. I know that he spoke with Chat Noir about what the three of us talked about yesterday, so I'd imagine that he had a pretty rough night himself. And as soon as he understood that this was a problem, he wanted to try to make amends as soon as he could. That's the kind of person he is."

"Agreed, but... wow."

As Marinette related that afternoon's library conversation, Kagami's mind reeled. "He was so sure that I was with Luka now. I guess I can understand how he could've gotten that impression, but... that's just not a thing yet. I don't know if it'll ever be," said Marinette.

Kagami's face fell. "That... might've been partially my fault. I'd seen you with him a couple of times, and I told Adrien once that I thought he was your boyfriend... but that was before I got to know you better," she explained. "I warned Adrien that he needed to be gentle with you if he and I were going to be together, because I wasn't sure! And because I knew you still had major feelings for Adrien... but I didn't say _that_ out loud to him."

"He told me that you'd warned him. Thank you for that," smiled Marinette. "It was very considerate of you."

"You're my friend," Kagami replied, simply.

"So... we talked it out from there. He was... I don't know how to describe it. I've very rarely seen him acting that way," Marinette mused. "He was unsure of himself, he was nervous, he was stepping over his own words at times... I guess he was concerned that he'd really, really hurt me. I did my best to show him that I was still okay, that I'd forgiven him. That I knew that he hadn't known."

"And after that... he was talking about the 'three' girls in his life. He was very sincere about you, Kagami; I have to stress that. He knows how hurt you must be and he truly wants to make it up to you. He doesn't want to lose your friendship, at the very least," she continued.

"Well, he won't lose _that_. You know that, and he should, too," declared Kagami.

"After the way that he broke things off so abruptly, I can't blame him for not being sure," Marinette empathized. "He wants to talk with you, of course."

"What did he say about you?" Kagami asked.

"I asked him about Ladybug, and he was... well... evasive," frowned Marinette. "He didn't seem to want to go into a lot of details. Saying 'there are things about her that I can't tell even you about,' as if he knows Ladybug's deep, dark secrets."

Kagami frowned back. _I think there's one deep, dark secret of his own that he was talking about there... and you'd have had no way of knowing that. And even if I knew that was true for sure, Tikki just warned me never to let those secrets out!_

"And he was full of compliments for me, like he usually is. Though at one point..." Marinette trailed off, looking a bit uncertain.

"Please, tell me! I'd like to know," Kagami reassured her.

"He told me that he _loves_ me. He's not _in_ love with me, and maybe not in love with anyone. But I've never had a boy tell me that before," said Marinette, very quietly.

"That should tell you an awful lot about how he truly feels about you, Marinette," advised Kagami. _And that I can probably write any romantic reconciliation off,_ she thought to herself.

"It tells me that he's shaken up and confused," Marinette parried. "I can't really read more than that into it right now. He said that he's not sure of what he wants to do next. That he's not sure if he's as focused on Ladybug as he thought he was... and he wanted to know what _I_ thought he should do. When he asked me, his face was so... soft. So _vulnerable_. He really does trust me."

Kagami held herself back from screaming _He was asking if he should ask you out right then and there!_ through force of will. "What did you tell him?" she managed, from the edge of her chair.

"What else? I told him that the first thing he needed to do was to make things right with you," replied Marinette, matter-of-factly. "That if the three of us were going to remain close, that was the most important..."

Marinette paused. "Kagami... why are you looking at me like that?" she asked, curiously.

* * *

Next time:

* "Knock, knock."

* Putting Kwami heads together.

* "This is Betty. This is Veronica. Right now, you're Jughead."

* A status report.

* "My brain is full."


	11. To Sleep, Perchance To Twitch

It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time, Chapter 11: To Sleep, Perchance To Twitch

* * *

Marinette watched Kagami's face roll through a handful of visible emotions. A pinch of disbelief, a shake or two of wonder, a couple of spoonfuls of outright alarm, mixed well.

"Kagami?" asked Marinette once more. "What's wrong? You look like I just shocked you. Isn't that what we want? You, me and Adrien all staying close?"

"Yes, but..." Kagami managed. "But he's... Adrien's whom you've wanted all along! And he was _right there_ for the asking! I am sure that he was."

_And he was there to be asked _because you'd asked him_ without knowing it,_ Kagami reeled. _You told Chat Noir that if the boy underneath the mask told the girl underneath Ladybug's how he feels about her, 'she might surprise him.' Well, that's just what HE did, again without knowing, and I think that you surprised both of us!_

"I don't know what I want right now. _He_ doesn't know what he wants right now," countered Marinette. "When I asked him about Ladybug, why his feelings for her were so much deeper than for us, he dodged the question completely."

_Because he couldn't answer that, _reasoned Kagami, _and I might be the only other one who knows why._

"Kagami..." moaned Marinette, "my _brain_ is full. I'm too wiped out to trust my own instincts right now, let alone to figure out his. And Adrien's just as bad; he's hanging by a thread right now. He could barely focus when he was talking to me this afternoon."

"Okay, okay. I do understand," sighed Kagami. _A bit too well for comfort's sake,_ she added in her mind.

Not far away from the two of them, two tiny creatures ducked away behind Marinette's dresser for a moment to themselves.

* * *

Adrien sat wearily on his bed, cross-legged, watching Plagg prepare to try and clarify the situation. "I don't mean to make fun of you, Plagg," he said, "but since when are _you_ the Love Doctor?"

"Let me put it this way. For one thing, I've been watching you humans date and mate and fumble around like this for a few thousand years. I _might _have picked up a few ideas along the way, you know?"

"That's fair. What's the other thing?" allowed Adrien.

"How well have _you_ been doing lately?"

Adrien stared back through half-closed eyes. "I want to snark back at you for that, but... you're right," he moaned. "Even if my Lady felt like dating right now, which she told me that she doesn't, I found out that I'd _had a chance_ as myself with her and I screwed it up. That alone is killing me to know! With Kagami, I know what I did; I don't know how well I can fix it. And Marinette... hoo, _boy_."

"Finally waking up to her, ain'tcha?" grinned Plagg.

"That's nothing to laugh about," replied Adrien, looking hurt. "I should have realized how she felt a long time ago. She tried to cover it up... but that's on _me,_ too. I don't care if she says that it isn't."

"I meant waking up to how _you _feel about _her_," Plagg countered.

Adrien processed that for a moment, then fell flat on his back. "I have no idea how to answer that," he mumbled from that position.

"You could try. I can't do _all _the work here."

That got him another glare.

"There's... something real there, I think," Adrien finally managed. "I'd never really thought that much about it before everything that just happened, you know? I've always been really fond of her, but I hadn't... classified her in my head that way. Like, she never seemed to think of _me_ that way, so it never occurred to me to think of her that way, either?"

It was Plagg's turn to sigh. "You're... new at this," Plagg muttered. _"And_ she did lie to you about it, which she finally admitted today, so I'm not gonna yell at you _too_ much. But that girl has been putty in your hands the whole time you've known her, almost. All year long. And you're the only one who didn't know it."

"You could've told me," Adrien retorted, accusingly.

"I shouldn't have had to! And would you have listened, with Ladybug on your brain?" _Plus a certain... complication was there,_ mused Plagg to himself. "And it seemed like I didn't need to! I've watched how you respond to her. How softly you look at her sometimes. How bright your smile is when she's near you, or when she does something nice for you. You tell her how amazing she is all the time, you gave her a handmade birthday gift, you act around her like no other girl makes you act. You've been falling for her for _months_, Adrien. That day that you two cuddled up on the Startrain, I thought she'd broken through."

"And if she'd asked me to be hers today... she probably _would've_ broken through. But that's changed, too, it seems," Adrien said, in a resigned tone. "Plagg... I do need your help. I have these three incredible girls in my life, and I have different feelings about each of them... but they're all _real_ feelings! And all three of them are friends, so if I mess it up with one of them, _all three_ are mad at me. And they should be."

Plagg heard the obvious confusion in Adrien's voice. "I thought I knew that I was in love with Ladybug. Now I'm... I'm trying to figure out which one of those feelings really _is __love,_" Adrien whimpered.

"And _I'm_ trying to figure out why you think there can only be one kind of love," smiled Plagg, seeing that Adrien was closer to the truth now.

* * *

The two girls' Kwamis settled in to talk, out of sight and earshot of their hosts.

"Ours is not an enviable task," began Longg, calmly.

"Ours may not be a _possible_ one," fretted Tikki. "I am fine with Kagami as your host, though I am not happy about how we reached that point. But this love triangle is _dangerous, _to their relationships with each other _and_ to their identities! I was not prepared for her to learn Ladybug's secret..."

"And not just hers," Longg mused.

"...Say that again?" asked Tikki, slowly.

"Our young dragon strongly suspects that she knows Chat Noir's identity as well. She deduced it in the Eiffel Tower conversation, and everything since has made her more sure. She believes that this trio of close friends is a trio in another way, as well." Longg added, "I did not confirm it for her, as I do not know that with certainty myself. Nor can you confirm or deny it out loud... but the look on your face right now tells me all that I need to know about it."

"Of course. Why not? Let's just add more fuel to the fire," grumbled Tikki. After a moment's thought, she repeated, "So Chat and Ladybug each know Ryuko's identity... and she knows each of theirs. But Ryuko is under strict orders not to tell _either_ of them the other's secret. That is imperative! You _will_ reinforce that to her when you're alone with her next, right?"

"I will do that," confirmed Longg. "But why is it so imperative? We have had Ladybugs and Chats before who have known. Some have been man and wife."

"We have not had a _Guardian_ who has been intimate with a Chat Noir in that way. That raises the stakes considerably," explained Tikki. "And they are at a time of transition, in which Marinette is only beginning to learn what it means to be a Guardian. At a time when all three of them are emotionally drained, as well, and confused about what they truly mean to each other. With an archenemy who preys on emotional distress, who struck at Chat Noir _last night_ without realizing it!"

"And... call it a premonition, if you like," Tikki added, morosely. "But I just... I just don't want Chat Noir knowing Ladybug's identity. I sense disaster happening if he figures that out."

She gave Longg a weak smile. "All three of them are good kids with huge hearts. If there is a right way through this, they'll find it," Tikki said. "But I need them to do it _without_ making Ladybug or Chat more vulnerable. They are all on a razor's edge right now."

Longg looked thoughtful. "Quite a burden for my young charge to carry," he considered. "I am reminded of a host I had back in England, around a thousand years ago... do you recall that situation, Tikki?"

"I do," replied Tikki, "I was there." _Though I know that you're about to tell me the entire story, regardless..._

* * *

"For starters," Plagg declared, "this shouldn't be rocket science for you, Adrien. Of course there are many different kinds of love! You love Ladybug. You love your father and mother. You love the taste of passionfruit. You love the freedom that comes from being with _me_. Those aren't all the same, are they?"

"Well... yeah," Adrien agreed, hesitantly. "I even fought an Akuma recently that fed off of different kinds of love. So, yeah, not all love is romantic love... but that doesn't get me any closer to figuring out which of these _is_."

"So close, and yet so far," retorted Plagg. "Romantic love isn't all-or-nothing, either. And _that_ is what you're missing."

"Then enlighten me," said Adrien, looking unconvinced. "That's how it's _supposed_ to be."

"Tell me, then," Plagg grinned. "You go out there tomorrow and Ladybug has a change of heart. She tells you, 'I love you, Adrien Agreste. I'm yours.' Your father will approve of the two of you running off to be married, right?"

_"Married_ is a bit much," gulped Adrien. "Someday, maybe, in my wildest dreams."

"Or she turns to you as Chat Noir and says, 'I've seen the error of my ways, dear Kitty. Take me home right now. Let me meet your parents and bear your children.' Then what?"

"Whoa!" Adrien declared. "As if _that_ would happen."

"Why not? She's the love of your life, isn't she? Your soulmate, your partner of destiny?" laughed Plagg in a taunting voice. "Shouldn't you be ready to go all the way with that?"

"In case you hadn't noticed, I'm _barely fifteen_. I'm not old enough to get married yet, or to..."

"To get way too serious, way too fast?" Plagg finished his sentence. "Exactly. But from the moment Ladybug took your brain away a year ago, you've been acting like that's the only possibility, and no other girl has existed for you. Until this week, anyway, and we know how _that_ went. Does _that_ ring any bells?"

"Believe it or not... yes, it does," admitted Adrien. "Which is one reason that I tried it out with Kagami in the first place. I don't know that she's the love of my life, but she was someone special and she was into me and she was _right there,_ wanting that so badly!"

Adrien sat up, staring intently at Plagg. "But I'm _still_ in the same place. Okay, I get it, I need to take things more slowly with whoever I end up with. I can date without that person being whom I'll spend the rest of my life with. I get _all_ of that. But I still need to choose _one_ of them, if any of them would still have me!"

Plagg closed his eyes and shook his head, slowly. He came to a decision and waved to Adrien. "Follow me, okay?"

Adrien watched as Plagg floated over to the computer, selected the browser and pecked away at the keyboard with his tiny paws. A picture appeared on the screen.

"So... do you know who _this_ guy is?" Plagg asked, patiently.

* * *

Kagami watched Marinette with a concerned eye. _Something in this situation needs to be resolved, and soon,_ she worried. _As shaky as I feel right now, Marinette is a dozen times worse; and small wonder, with the weight of the world on her shoulders like this. And even with her deepest desire right in front of her, she thinks of others first._

_She continues to amaze me._

_And Adrien may be just as beaten down... and Hawkmoth nearly took advantage of that. I need to do whatever I can do to stabilize things... just like she did today._

"Marinette," she began, lightly, "I'm not pushing you when it comes to Adrien, one way or the other. I understand why it went the way that it did today... and I have your back. Sisters before Misters, remember?" she added, getting a sleepy-eyed smile from Marinette. "Adrien is important to both of us... just like you are to me. And whatever we can do to keep all three of us close, that is something I will happily get behind."

"But that means helping you figure out what's best for _you_ as well," she continued. "And right now, I have a very good idea of what that is... a _nap_."

"_Yes,_" Marinette blurted, before an embarrassed flush took over. "Though certainly not while I have company!"

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng," declared Kagami in a serious tone, but with a warm expression on her face. "After the insane last twenty-four hours you have had, I will tuck you into bed _myself_ if you force me to."

_I'm tempted to ask her how she thinks she could make me, _thought Marinette, _except that somehow I think that she might try! And right now, she'd probably win!_

Sweeping aside Marinette's silent, smiling protest, Kagami continued, "Do not even begin to feel bad. I need a nap, too, and I'll see about it once I get home! I needed to talk to you today, about Longg and about Adrien and about us, and we did that. Now you need to rest, all right?"

"I-I will," Marinette replied. "I'm too exhausted to argue. You'll be okay, too?"

"Of course I will," said Kagami.

"I'm at least going to walk you out..." insisted Marinette.

* * *

The girls went back downstairs, and as Marinette said her goodbyes, Sabine noted approvingly that the two remained on pleasant terms.

On her way through the kitchen, Sabine stopped Marinette. "All's well for the moment?" she asked her daughter.

"It seems that way," agreed Marinette. "As well as it's going to get."

"Can we talk for a moment?" asked Sabine, with concern. "From the way that you told me earlier, you had your Adrien in the palm of your hand today, and you let him go free. That can't have been easy for you."

"That's... what Kagami thought, too," marveled Marinette. "I'm not... so sure. Or at least I wouldn't want to feel like I was taking advantage of him in a weak moment."

"Even so. Tread lightly with him, would you?" her mother requested. "I don't know him well, though I feel like I do, with all that I've heard about him..."

Even in a state of exhaustion, Marinette's blush was unavoidable. "Yeah, I might have mentioned him, once or twice," she grinned, sheepishly.

"But it's obvious that he cares about you, and he may be just as confused as you and Kagami are about what's happening. Maybe he'll need a good friend to guide him... maybe something else. It wouldn't surprise me if he keeps reaching out to you either way."

"As long as he doesn't do it in the next hour and a half," sighed Marinette. "Because I won't be awake for it."

"Go, then. I'll come and get you when it's time for supper," grinned Sabine.

* * *

"Of course I know him," Adrien said, gesturing to the computer monitor. "That's Archie, from the comic books. Not my usual reading material, but I at least know the main characters."

"Good, that'll save some time. And at least you know the comic version; I have no idea what they're doing in that TV show. So," Plagg lectured, "you see a young man who's got two girls in his life. One's a pretty girl-next-door, the other's an attractive daughter of a rich family, and they're both interested in him. Where, oh where have I heard anything like this before?"

"Uh-huh," Adrien noted, raising an eyebrow. "Tell me where you're going with this, already."

"He's been a point of this love triangle for almost eighty years. Sometimes he goes out with one of them, sometimes the other. Very often, he spends time with both," explained Plagg. "He's gotten kissy with both of them at different times, but somehow he never ends up getting serious, 'going steady' with either one for long. And you know how the girls react to that?"

"How?"

"Do they get a little jealous of each other sometimes when it's not their turn? Sure, they do. But they _stay close friends_ because they're honest with each other. So much so that they even have _their own_ comic book about the two of them."

Adrien let that sink in.

"Now, in your case... this is Betty. This is Veronica. Right now, you're Jughead," smirked Plagg. "Because what _you've_ wanted hasn't been either one of them, but something completely off their radar. Not to compare Ladybug to a gigantic sandwich or a plate of hamburgers, of course. Though I can see how that would appeal..."

"You're suggesting that I should aim for something similar? Dating... _both_ of them casually?" wondered Adrien. "And what if they don't want that?"

"I don't know if they will or not. What I do know," Plagg said, "is that they're good friends _and_ both want to stay close with you. Whether you call that dating, or romance, or just spending time together is up to you; I can't tell you how to feel. But I'll put it this way... When you spent the weekend cuddled up with Kagami and giving the kissing thing a try... you liked that, right?"

"More than a little," admitted Adrien.

"And the feelings that are popping into your head about Marinette. They're different from those you've had about Kagami, _or_ about Ladybug... but just as intense?" prodded Plagg.

"Intense is one way to put it." Adrien scratched his head, absently. "They're hard to compare."

"Of course they are. Kagami and Marinette are very different people, but they both appeal to you." Plagg wound up for his closing argument. "So maybe what you ought to do is spend time with one, the other, _and_ both and see how they react. Figure out what it is that they each want, and go from there. If they both want to be your exclusive girlfriend, that's a problem, but at least you'll know it for sure! But just _be honest_ with both of them and _stay that way_. That's the biggest thing you can do."

"And what about Ladybug?" asked Adrien. "There's the elephant in the room. The girl of my dreams who admitted that she'd _had_ a thing for me, after all?"

"I, um..." stammered Plagg, searching for the right answer. "Let me put it this way. You've got two right now whom you _know _are interested, and one who's slammed that door shut repeatedly. Ladybug knows where you live and how to find you. If she wants to sit you down and talk with you about it... she'll let you know."

"Huh," Adrien managed. "You've given me a lot to think about."

"Don't think too hard right now, or your brain might fall out," Plagg noted. "You look like you're about to fall over. Take a nap, already. It's not every day that your father and Nathalie _let_ you do that after school."

"Not a bad idea..."

As Adrien stumbled over to his bed, Plagg breathed a sigh of relief. _There,_ he thought. _A solid dose of advice that might help keep this whole thing from blowing up. Now let's see if any of it sinks in..._

* * *

After saying goodbye to Marinette's mother in the kitchen, Marinette's father in the bakery and Marinette at the front door, Kagami stepped outside and waited a moment before darting into the alley. One white flash later, Ryuko was making her way home with her mind still buzzing.

_How am I going to thread this particular needle? _she wondered to herself. _Marinette is still in love with Adrien - of course she is - but she _had him_ this afternoon and she deferred to me. She's completely confused about Chat Noir, duty and desire colliding, and I am under orders not to clear that up. And he is into her both ways, in both his identities... and yet Marinette is still sure that he and I have unfinished business._

_And perhaps we do. Marinette seems intent on not dating anyone for a while, from what she told me - and what she told Chat_ _AND Adrien_._ Adrien knows that Ladybug is perturbed, that Marinette wasn't entirely receptive today - if she had been, he'd be in her arms right now - and that he'd done me wrong with how __abruptly __we broke up. And Marinette urged him to fix that. _

_Could he turn back to me? And would I want him to do so, however cautiously?_

_He and I really need to talk._

Ryuko paused for a moment, then smiled.

_Which I am in a nearly-unique position to make happen, if I wish to. Though in a much more reflective mood than I would have been had Ladybug and I followed through the other night!_

She closed her eyes for a moment, imagining a sleeping Adrien opening his eyes to two angry heroines standing over his bed...

_Knock, knock,_ her imaginary self growled down at him... only to be wiped from her head by a burst of low laughter.

_It was good that Ladybug and I cooled each other down before confronting him, that's for sure, even if we would never have _really_ threatened him that way. But the basic idea of dropping in unexpectedly is not without merit...!_

_But for right now, I should get home before I am missed, and give Adrien a chance to rest as well._

Her mind made up, she launched herself in the direction of her house.

* * *

"Trouble in paradise, it appears?" Gabriel asked, dryly.

"You could say that. Adrien still thinks fondly of Miss Tsurugi... but he has some relationship repair work to do. And his classmate may well complicate that," confirmed Nathalie. "For the moment, at least, all three of them seem to be remaining on good terms. But this is still very new, and therefore up in the air." She paused, then added, "He seems very genuinely torn. That matches up with what your other self got out of him."

"Not what I wanted to hear, of course. But the situation is not without possibilities," mused Gabriel. "I do not wish to target Adrien intentionally... not now, at least. I would reserve that for _very_ specific circumstances of great need. The second girl... Miss Dupain-Cheng... has proven elusive in the past. An unusual strength of will, an atypical personality. Another person whom I have reserved for one of my special projects."

"And Miss Tsurugi? You were rather intent on having Adrien court her, as I recall," Nathalie replied.

"And that remains true. Oh, I have faith in my son's good nature," Gabriel smirked. "He cannot step on a sidewalk crack without apologizing to it. He will make amends with her when he is able, and you and I will guide them from there as necessary. But for the moment, she must certainly be despondent over her lost romance, would you not expect?"

"I know that I would be," agreed Nathalie.

"Allow Adrien to rest for now," Gabriel directed her. "I will keep an eye on the situation in my own manner. And if the opportunity rises for an unexpected evening visitor..."

"I do believe that I know how that sentence ends," Nathalie smiled as she exited Gabriel's office.

* * *

The early evening passed without incident. Marinette awoke from a much-needed nap with something of a clearer head and a better mood, which both of her parents noted approvingly at supper.

At bedtime, Marinette stretched out a little uneasily, recalling her lunchtime conversation. She checked her phone and noticed that she wasn't the only one still up, which sent her texting fingers into motion...

**[Marinette] Hi. Are you available? **

_If he's still up... and he wants to talk... I think that we were in a good place when we left each other today. But I want to be sure._

* * *

On his own bed, Adrien jumped when his phone beeped abruptly.

_Great! _he smiled. _I'd been sitting here all evening trying to figure out what to say to Kagami, and worrying about what __I _had_ said to Marinette... if she's reaching out like this, that's a good sign, I think._

**[Adrien] Yes, I'm awake. How are you doing tonight?**

**[Marinette] Better, I think. A nap helped. How about you?**

**[Adrien] Same. Nathalie took pity on me and let me take an afternoon nap before I fell over.**

**[Marinette] Good. I think that we both needed that so much.**

**[Adrien] I'm very glad to hear from you. What's on your mind?**

There was a short pause.

**[Marinette] I wanted to apologize to you.**

Adrien stared at his phone, as if it had suddenly shifted into a different language.

**[Adrien] What on earth for? I'm the one who should apologize.**

**[Marinette] I put you on the spot today. I had been hiding my feelings from you all along, and I put you on the spot about Ladybug.**

**[Marinette] You looked awfully uncomfortable and I didn't mean to hurt you.**

**[Adrien] No, I'm the one who put YOU on the spot. I pushed you to talk about those feelings that you weren't ready to talk about.**

**[Adrien] But that I KNOW I should have seen all along. I am so sorry that I didn't.**

**[Marinette] I'm the one who lied to you. I'm the huge hypocrite.**

Adrien smiled to himself at the back-and-forth.

**[Adrien] You do realize that we could do this all month, right?**

**[Adrien] If we add up all the I-wish-I-hads we have, we could be apologizing to each other until the end of time.**

**[Adrien] But what's more important to me is this... **

**[Adrien] Are we okay going forward?**

**[Marinette] I sure hope so. **

**[Adrien] You and me? You and Kagami?**

**[Marinette] How about you and Kagami?**

**[Adrien] _I_ sure hope so. I'm thinking about what to say to her next.**

**[Adrien] I dug myself a huge hole.**

Another pause followed.

**[Marinette] I can tell you this much... she doesn't hate you. She was hurt, sure. **

**[Marinette] But there is room there to make things better. And I hope that you do.**

A noise near his window distracted Adrien slightly as he typed. As he stared into the near-darkness, he saw a humanoid figure shadowed there... and swore that he could make out at least a hint of red.

* * *

On her bed, Marinette twitched a little bit waiting for Adrien's response.

**[Adrien] I promise that I'll try. And I want to build a bridge between you and me, too.**

**[Adrien] Both of you are very important to me. **

**[Adrien] And I need you to be a bigger part of my life. You're too wonderful for me not to want th**

The sentence seemed cut off...

**[Marinette] Adrien? Are you there?**

After a moment:

**[Adrien] Someone's at my window. There's a shadow there.**

A wide-eyed Marinette called Tikki over. "We may have a situation here!" she panicked. "Adrien has an intruder!"

"Is it an Akuma?" worried Tikki. "Can he tell?"

"I don't know! All I know is that he-" she yelped.

**[Adrien] I think it's LADYBUG!**

"..._What."_

* * *

Next time:

* "That was _dirty pool!_"

* "Hold tight! I _think _I know what I'm doing."

* "How am I supposed to react to that?"

* One well-aimed stroke.

* "I have an idea."


	12. Boots and Cats and Mental Splats

It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time, Chapter 12: Boots and Cats and Mental Splats

* * *

Adrien watched as the dark figure near his bedroom window craned its neck, peering in his direction. It took one tentative step forwards toward him, then another...

...then stopped abruptly.

* * *

Staying as silent as she could, Ryuko attempted to make out Adrien's current state. _He could be sleeping,_ she thought. _I thought I saw a faint glow over there, like he had his cell phone out... but he could've fallen asleep with it in his hand. If he isn't awake, I don't want to..._

_...EEP!_

A low voice at her ear and a light touch on her neck made her freeze in place.

"Don't you _even_ move a muscle," growled the voice. "One false move towards that bed and I will _drop you_ where you stand. I can turn you to ash before you take another step. Do you _understand_ me?"

_And if that's who I'm sure it is... he could, too._

"I h-hear you," whispered Ryuko. "I mean no harm."

"Good. Now, step back and let me get a better look at you, whoever you are. Slowly, walk back towards the window."

She saw a shadow that must be Adrien sit up and stare in her direction. "Ladybug? Is that you?" he ventured. "Are you-"

"Stay _BACK!" _Plagg ordered him. "I don't know what we're dealing with here. Though I'm thinking that..."

A faint sniffing noise was audible. "Oh, are you kidding me?" grumbled Plagg. As they approached the window, he floated around in front of her to get a better look at her in the dim evening light.

The Kwami's eyes burned in her direction. "Come with me. Rooftop. _Now!_" Plagg ordered her.

"I... I just wanted to..." stammered Ryuko.

"..._Kagami?" _Adrien yelped, rather startled.

_"Now," _emphasized Plagg.

Ryuko gave Adrien an embarrassed little wave, then stepped out onto the balcony and did as she was told, leaping upwards.

* * *

Marinette looked at Tikki with a terrified expression on her face. "Tikki... oh my _gosh!_ It could be an Akuma villain, it could be a sentimonster... Spots-"

"_Wait!_" begged Tikki, as Marinette stared at her incredulously. "Just for a second. Let me think. There... just might be another explanation."

"Like _what?"_ demanded Marinette. "What could be breaking into Adrien's bedroom that _wouldn't_ be a threat?"

"Who do you know who has a Miraculous of her own, is very fond of Adrien, and had _someone_ put 'let's sneak into his bedroom and give him a talking-to' into her head?" Tikki asked her.

Marinette's face went blank for a moment. "It... could be..." she allowed. "But we talked that out, I thought. Kagami's not nearly as upset with him now as she was then!"

"Right. But if it is her, maybe she's not there to rattle his chains. Maybe she's checking on him, maybe she wants to talk, maybe lots of things! But check in with Ryuko now and see if it IS her. If it isn't, we can go in right away with our guns blazing."

_And if it IS her, I would rather not have you show up just as Adrien confesses "Yes, I am Chat Noir" to her, _Tikki grumbled to herself. _Or if it turns out that they talked things out and they're getting back together, YOU would probably prefer to not burst in on a midnight makeout session! I know that you're pushing the two of them back together to some degree, but some things can't be unseen!_

"That makes sense. I'll need to transform for that, of course," Marinette added.

"Go ahead."

"Spots on!"

* * *

On the roof, Ryuko tried to maintain her composure as Plagg circled her angrily.

"Other than nearly getting yourself killed, what exactly do you think that you're _doing_ here tonight?" he barked. "I was there when you and Ladybug were discussing your little 'let's go get Adrien' raid, remember? Between that and... other things that happened... if you think that I was just going to leave Adrien undefended, you're out of your mind."

"Of course you were there!" exclaimed Ryuko. "And you heard us talk the situation out with Chat Noir, did you not? You know that neither of us was coming here to hurt Adrien or threaten him. I would never hurt him! We had just wanted to talk about what had happened between us."

"So what is _this_ about, then? Some kind of booty call?" Plagg asked.

"A boot what?" she wondered aloud.

Plagg shook his head. "Of course you wouldn't know that phrase. You're as sheltered as he is," he grumbled. "Were you coming to talk him into more kissing, or what?"

"I knew that he'd had a very rough day. He talked things out with Marinette, whom he might just be _admitting _that he's falling for, and she deflected that away. _And_ he came this close to being Akumatized last night," explained Ryuko. "I wanted to check on him, make sure that he was all right, and talk about things if he felt up to it. I was _trying_ to see if he was asleep when you caught me; I didn't want to wake him if he was. And then you scared the life out of me!"

"Did you know that Mayura - the Peacock - can create sentimonster duplicates of people? That she'd sent a fake Ladybug after Chat Noir once?" demanded Plagg. "I can tell the difference... fakes kind of, well, _smell_ wrong - but I've got to get close. I didn't know who or _what_ you were at first, and I almost fried you rather than take a chance."

"I... did not know that," gulped Ryuko. "I apologize for that. I should have called ahead."

"Fine. Speaking of calling... did Ladybug know that you were coming here?" asked Plagg.

"No... it was kind of a spur-of-the-moment decision on my-"

"_Check your communicator right now_!" Plagg directed her. "I think that Adrien was on his phone with Marinette. If he told her that someone broke into his room..."

"Oh, dear," worried Ryuko. "That could be very bad." She fiddled with the hilt of her sword and listened carefully...

"_We have a potential emergency,_" said Ladybug's recorded voice. "_A possible intruder at the Agreste mansion..._"

"You don't have to tell me twice," Ryuko told Plagg. "I'm calling her now."

"Be _careful _about what you say!" glared Plagg, to which she nodded.

* * *

Ladybug paced back and forth across her bedroom floor. "Another minute or so," she muttered to herself. "If _Adrien _was targeted... what am I going to do? I can't punch an Akuma knowing that it's _him_, can I? I mean, I've kind of been waiting for this... everyone else in our class has been hit at least once... Arrrgh! I need to get over there-"

Her stream-of-consciousness worrying was broken up by an incoming message. "Stand down!" gasped Ryuko. "The intruder is me."

"Thank goodness," Ladybug breathed. She didn't so much sit down as fall into her computer chair. "What are you doing there?"

"Checking on him, like I had checked on you today. Only I didn't use the front door this time, I snuck through his bedroom window, and he, um, caught me," Ryuko replied. "Not one of my finest moments."

"Wow. Even I've never visited Adrien quite like that," marveled Ladybug. "Why were you checking on him?"

"The Ak-" Ryuko began, then caught herself. "The _occasion_ of this afternoon, remember? He was exhausted and had a very emotional conversation with you today. I just wanted to know that he was safe and okay. I am _not _here to mess with him, I assure you."

Ladybug thought it over. _That checks out... Adrien _has_ had a rough time of it lately, what with their breakup and then our talk today..._

"Okay. Good enough for me. Tell him I said 'Hi,' if he's awake," she replied. "Just... be careful, okay? You told me that he knows your identity already, but you don't want anyone else in his house figuring it out."

"Will do, thank you. Good night!" Ryuko responded.

Transforming back, Marinette stared blankly into space for a minute, processing her relief among several other emotions.

* * *

"That was close," Plagg lectured Ryuko. "You nearly let it slip about the Akuma."

"Yes, I stopped myself. From what Ladybug had told me about last night, she knew that Chat Noir's host had been targeted, not that Adrien had been."

Plagg froze in place as he made the connection.

"And how do _you_ know who Chat Noir's host is, or that Adrien was targeted?" he snarled. "If, um, he was?"

"That was... well, a secondary reason for my visit," replied Ryuko, a bit timidly. "I was sure that I had figured his secret out. And now that I have found _you_ here, with Adrien completely unsurprised by your presence... that tells me all that I needed to know."

The look on Plagg's face was midway between astonishment and fury; Ryuko took two steps backwards before she realized that she had.

"I didn't mean to figure it out... it just sort of... happened," apologized Ryuko.

Plagg flew up into the air for a moment, ranting aloud. She caught at least one "don't _frickin' believe this"_ before Plagg circled back down in front of her face.

"That was _dirty pool!_" he accused her. "I can't _believe_ you just _did that_!"

"I cannot believe that _Marinette_ hasn't realized it yet. And, no, I will not be telling her, _or_ telling him _her _identity. Tikki made it crystal clear that I am to maintain that boundary, or else," Ryuko replied.

"So let me get this straight," Plagg exclaimed. "You figured out that the Kwami of _Destruction_ was paired with Adrien. You knew that Adrien had been targeted by an Akuma and was feeling exhausted. That he was vulnerable, so I'd likely be watching over him, and could Cataclysm anyone who got near him. And you _still_ snuck into his room tonight?"

"I... I needed to be sure that he was all right," said Ryuko, simply.

Plagg shook his head again... then grinned. "Part of me wants to take you to Ladybug _right now_ and have her take your Miraculous back, for taking that kind of risk," he declared. "Part of me likes you. You're nuttier than I am, and that takes some effort."

* * *

Adrien's death stare at his window was rewarded by a red figure dropping down and climbing through it, followed by a more common sight.

"Oh, _Adrieeeeen!_" Plagg said, teasingly. "Tell Marinette that you're okay and wish her good night. You have a lady caller."

Adrien blinked - two, three times - as Ryuko got closer, then reached for his phone.

**[Adrien] I'm okay. It's not Ladybug, it's... one of her friends, checking on me. **

There was a short pause, as Adrien, Ryuko and Plagg looked at each other expectantly...

**[Marinette] Well, there's something I don't hear every day.**

**[Adrien] My life is kind of... aggressively crazy lately. Can I walk you to school tomorrow, and we can talk?**

**[Marinette] No need to explain unless you want to. Though I must admit that I _am_ curious. ;) Good night!**

**[Adrien] Good night, Marinette. Sweet dreams.**

"Whew! Okay, that's taken care of. Now... Kagami, what are you-" began Adrien...

It all came crashing down on him at once.

* * *

"Plagg... you're out in the open?" he gulped. "So... Kagami... you _know?"_

"A handsome, blond, athletic boy who has a huge soft spot for Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Who is crazy about Ladybug. Who was very sure that Ladybug meant the world to Adrien Agreste the other night, while he still had his mask on," smiled Ryuko, sadly. "I had surmised it long before Plagg caught me tonight."

"Oh... _oh, no_," Adrien panicked. "How am I supposed to react to that? I... Kagami, _no one else knows that_. You can't tell anyone. You can't tell Ladybug!"

"I have no intentions of telling anyone," Ryuko soothed. "Longg... Open sky."

Transformed back, Kagami walked over to Adrien's bedside and sat down beside him, as Plagg muttered, "Couple of million people in Paris, and Ladybug picks Nancy frickin' Drew, Girl Detective to get close to."

Adrien was shaking. "I can't believe that I let my secret slip out..." he mumbled. "And you... Kagami, you and I need to talk so much, about what I did to you, I am _so sorry..."_

"Shhh," Kagami quieted him. "Everything makes so much more sense now... including _why_ you did what you did, okay? I'm still... processing it, but I'm not as angry and hurt as I had been."

_"No,_ Kagami. I let you get close, then made you feel like you were a second choice. That was so wrong of me," Adrien insisted. "I hurt you, and I handled it terribly."

Kagami successfully fought off the urge to vigorously agree with him. "Adrien... I can't _order_ you to feel a certain way. But I kind of did, and I wish that I hadn't. Any more than I could tell Marinette not to fall for you, or that she could tell me," she told him. "Just because I was head over heels for you doesn't mean that your feelings for someone else don't matter. And knowing this... the bond between you and Ladybug... of _course_ you couldn't have told me that up front!"

"I still feel like a heel," whimpered Adrien.

"Oh, we are not _done_ talking about this, do not get me wrong! I do not know what our future will bring. But at least now, whatever it is, it'll be coming from a more understanding place," Kagami smiled. "Now, come here."

Gently, Kagami pulled him into a comforting hug. "All four of us are going to figure this out," she half-whispered. "You, me, Marinette and Ladybug."

She shot Plagg a meaningful look, who let out a long sigh. As he flew across the room, he called out, "Wake me when this _week_ is over."

* * *

Knowing Tikki was behind her, Marinette asked an open question while still staring into space. "I am pretty sure that I'm back on the right track. Or at least _some_ track. So why do I feel like I'm shooting myself in the foot?"

Her voice was flat and toneless. "Kagami thinks that Adrien was actually interested in me today. _Mom_ thought the same thing. I... kind of felt like he was hinting at it... but I know that neither of us had a clear head at the time."

"I can't argue with any of that so far," ventured Tikki.

"And I know that I'm barely keeping my head above water as it is," added Marinette. "I was stressed and stretching myself too far _before _becoming the Guardian. _Before_ Kagami and Adrien got serious. Now? I don't know what I'm supposed to do, or how to do it. or why I shouldn't just go hide in my closet."

"Marinette... Master Fu didn't select you because you're a machine who never struggles or gets anything wrong. He selected you because you have amazing potential, as a hero and as a person," Tikki argued. "Because you will always try your hardest to reach the best outcomes you can."

"Just like how I became Ladybug," Marinette agreed. "I didn't ask for it. I didn't want it at first. I was in over my head. But once I figured out that I _could _do the job, I felt like I needed to."

Tikki frowned. _I'm not sure that I like where this is going,_ she worried.

"I'm not giving up being the Guardian, don't get me wrong," Marinette assured her. "I have no idea who else _could_ handle that, let alone who else I could trust with it! And 'here's a gift that's super important and will wipe your mind someday' isn't done lightly." She sighed, slumping down in exhaustion. "I don't know if _I_ can, though I'm going to try. But can I ask you something?"

She turned the chair around, facing Tikki, and Tikki could see complicated emotions on Marinette's face. "While I'm doing this... while I'm the Guardian of the Miraculous, with all the responsibilities and worries that come with that... is there going to be any room at all for me to be _Marinette?"_

Tikki was silent for a moment.

"I mean, not like transformed or not transformed. I'll be Ladybug any time I need to be. You know that," Marinette continued. "You didn't make me steer Adrien back towards Kagami today. I did that on my own. But there's a selfish part of me that's kicking myself, that's telling me that I'm giving up being _me _and all the things I want, in order to be the person I have to be now. And I just can't wrap my head around it yet... whether or not I _have to_ do that. Whether there's some way to thread that needle, to do what's best and still find a little room for myself."

"About Adrien, you mean?" Tikki asked.

"That's a big part of it," confirmed Marinette. "If he was reaching out to me that way today... he has the worst timing ever. I don't know if I _can be_ in love with _anyone_ any more. If I should. If I can and stay sane! And for Kagami's sake and Adrien's sake, I don't know that it can be _him_ any more. I feel like I need to talk to him as Ladybug, just to clear the air, but I have no idea what I would say to him yet."

"I'm not going to lie to you, Marinette, and tell you that doing that will be easy." Tikki fluttered over and landed on Marinette's leg, looking up at her. "Master Fu led a very interesting life as the Guardian; he traveled the world, he had adventures and romance and intrigue, and he ended up with a very comfortable existence here in Paris. But he also had to guard many secrets, travel light, and he ended up on the run and then without his memories thanks to Hawkmoth. As long as _he_ threatens Paris, your complications will be that much more limiting."

"And that has to come first. I know it does," Marinette agreed.

"And sometimes we dig our own holes, you know? For example, Kagami is a very good person and a good friend. But picking her to be Ryuko again complicated both sides of your life," Tikki pointed out. "And revealing your secret to her complicated that many times over. I'm not yelling at you now, telling you that it was _wrong _to do, because I don't want to fight... Just that decisions that you make can carry a lot more weight now."

"I know," replied Marinette, glumly. "I still wouldn't take that back; she will be a great teammate. She is a great friend. She'll be an absolute rock for us to build this new team around. But..."

"But you're feeling anxious about which way Adrien wants to go now," said Tikki.

"Yup. And I don't know which one would be the right choice for any of us."

Marinette shuddered. "Tikki, I just feel like I'm still in the middle of a nightmare. Everything keeps _happening_ and I keep reacting and every time I try to stop and think, another crazy thing happens and my brain turns to mush again. I'm still not trusting my own responses. I'm terrified that I'm going to hurt someone by doing the wrong thing - or _not doing_ the right thing. And that I will end up pushing away Adrien, Kagami, Alya... everyone."

Tikki smiled, "I have a feeling that whether it's as a boyfriend or as a very close friend... Adrien will want to get closer to you than ever before. I think there's still some room to follow your heart there, even on a Guardian's path. And I will help you any way that I can."

"Of course you will," Marinette smiled back, gratefully. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

* * *

Adrien sat calmly on the side of his bed, one of Kagami's hands clasping one of his. "I will admit," he noted, "that it will be nice to have _someone_ that I can talk to about these kinds of things. Right now, the other heroes and I, we don't really... socialize? And Plagg does what he can, but he has his own unique perspective on things."

They looked over at Plagg, who flashed them a toothy grin but allowed Adrien to continue.

"No one else has figured your secret out?" asked Kagami. "I mean, you do what you can to hide it, but... it is not _that_ much of a change, at least visually."

"No, and I haven't told a soul. Not even Marinette," Adrien replied. "I came pretty close to that a couple of times, when I visited her as Chat... but she's always stopped me before the words came out."

"I... might hold off on that for now, if I were you," Kagami said, feeling nervous. "At least until things get sorted out between the three of us. She wouldn't know what I know about you, so... her feelings about you and Ladybug are a bit more complicated."

"Which is... that's pretty big in my mind right now," admitted Adrien. "I mean, part of me is _finally_ accepting that Ladybug and I just aren't meant to be. I've fought that off for a long time now. But she's made it clear that she doesn't ever want to date Chat Noir, and while it blew my mind to hear that she liked me as Adrien... that'll be in the back of my mind, that approaching her as myself would be like I was fooling her into dating _him_. And I don't ever want her to feel that way."

"I don't know about that, necessarily," Kagami frowned. "It's still _you_ under the mask."

"Yeah, and there's a _her_ under her mask. And I might never find out who that is, though I'd like to," he replied, wistfully. "When I was talking to her about Marinette, and she told me that the way I described how I felt, _that's_ the way to reach the girl underneath Ladybug's mask... I don't think she was really encouraging me to go and find her, but it touched me in a really nice way. It was more insight into what the 'real' Ladybug is like than she shows me very often."

"She truly does have a hold on you, doesn't she?" asked Kagami. "Marinette, I mean, not Ladybug. Though they both do, that's obvious. And I don't blame you... it's hard to imagine anyone _not_ being a little bit in... being drawn to both of them."

Adrien looked up at her again, helplessly. "They both do, you're right. And so do you, Kagami. I never meant to hurt you by what I did the other day, and you know you have your own place in my heart. I just... I just need to teach myself that there can be more than one place in there, for more than one person, in more than one way."

"I know you better than to think that you would ever hurt anyone on purpose," Kagami smiled. "And I'll say this... Marinette may be nudging us together, in her own way, but I know that you and Marinette have a bond that _I_ would not want to break. Perhaps one bigger than you know."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Adrien, looking puzzled.

The advice of Longg floated across Kagami's mind as she thought hard. _One well-aimed strike is worth a dozen feints and parries, _he'd reminded her. _Hold your position until the moment is right... but when it is, do not hesitate._

"I have an idea," Kagami ventured. "It may be an insane and ludicrous idea... but it will not leave my head."

Adrien stared back, expectantly.

"I'll be right back," she said.

* * *

On Marinette's lap, Tikki tilted her head momentarily. "Feels like you've got another message coming in," she informed Marinette.

"Gotcha. This ought to be interesting... Spots on," replied Marinette.

A few seconds later, Ladybug activated her communicator. "What's up? How did it go?" she asked.

"Interestingly. I'm up on his rooftop now, by myself. There is... something that I would like to ask you, but I want to do it in person," said Ryuko. "Where is somewhere private that we can meet?"

"Well... you do know where I live," suggested Ladybug. "I'm right here."

"_Not_ there. Trust me on that," Ryuko blurted. "Somewhere in public, but where distractions would be unlikely."

_Now, why does that matter? _wondered Ladybug. "Ummm... how about the park that's three blocks south of my house?" she tried again.

"The one with the picnic tables and the children's playground? I know that one," confirmed Ryuko. "When can you be there?"

"I don't know, five, ten minutes?" Ladybug replied. "Just what is this about?"

"Okay. I'll be there in fifteen or twenty. And I need you to be your normal self when I get there... not Ladybug."

"Huh?"

"I am bringing a friend."

Despite the lack of video on the call, Ladybug found herself staring intently at her communicator.

"You will want to be _you_, not Ladybug, or we will have some serious explaining to do. Get there first, okay?" pleaded Ryuko.

"Okay, I'm on my way..."

Ladybug snapped her communicator shut with an uneasy feeling. _Whatever is about to happen,_ she reasoned, _I have a feeling that it will be memorable._

* * *

Adrien watched as Ryuko returned to his balcony and stepped inside once more.

"Okay, I just made a phone call," Ryuko smiled. "And in about ten minutes, I need to kidnap you for a little while. So I'll turn around while you get dressed for that."

"I have to admit... when I started leaving that window open _just in case_, this is _not_ how I imagined a late-night visit going," laughed Adrien, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Oh?" grinned Ryuko. "And just what _were _you imagining that might happen?"

"I don't know... never mind," blushed Adrien.

"Oh, no, you don't! You are the one who opened that particular door of conversation. I am merely putting my foot in it so that it won't close," she teased him. "Anything that Ladybug ought to know about? Perhaps one of those... what did you call it, Plagg?"

"A booty call," Plagg replied. "And if he was expecting one of those from Ladybug, he was more delusional than even I knew."

"I wasn't... _how is this conversation even happening?_" moaned Adrien, rummaging through his dresser drawers. "I expect that from Plagg, but I'm amazed that _you're_ going there, Kagami!"

"Maybe a long weekend of kissing a handsome boy woke up my sense of humor," smiled Ryuko. "Breaking the ice, if you will."

"I really hadn't imagined that you could laugh about that so soon," Adrien replied, looking downcast again. "One way or another, I will make things up to you as best I can."

"You're sweet, Adrien. All the more reason why I'm keeping you close," she said.

"And what _are _you doing right now?" he asked, in a serious tone. "Are we going out to meet Ladybug? No... if it was that, she'd probably just join us here. So what are you up to?"

Ryuko took a deep breath. "I am taking a chance," she allowed. "That I know two people who are dear to me as well as I think I do. And that I know how to break whatever tension remains between the three of us."

"_Ah,"_ Adrien answered, recognizing who it was that she meant. "Which is why I'm not transforming to go with you; you're taking me as myself."

"Right. Now come here, and hold tight! I _think _I know what I'm doing."

* * *

Next time:

* "...Can we vote on that?"

* "I don't know what it is, either. But it's there."

* Playgrounds aren't just for little kids.

* "I'm not shivering because I'm cold."

* One little word changes many things.


	13. And THAT Just Happened

It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time, Chapter 13: And THAT Just Happened...

* * *

Marinette paced around the playground area of her local park, nervously waiting for Ryuko to arrive... with a "friend."

_Three guesses who that is_, she smiled. _What in the world did Adrien SAY to her tonight that made her decide to pull us all together, that it couldn't wait?_

_Could it be that... um... she and my mother were right? That what I thought I felt this afternoon was real? That Adrien's starting to fall for ME?_

The mere possibility was enough to rattle her nerves considerably. Idly, she walked over to a set of monkey bars and began climbing on them, just to keep her body occupied.

_I don't... I can't handle that idea right now. I don't think I can be IN LOVE with anyone until I get my head straight, _she fretted. _I have no idea how long it might take for me to make my normal life and being a Guardian sync up. Maybe that'll never happen._

_Look at Master Fu. He and Marianne were meant for each other, but they ended up spending decades apart, so much of his life consumed by the Miraculous..._

Marinette swung from bar to bar, nearly slipping as she reached for the next one. _Heh. If I only had a little of Ladybug's agility as myself,_ she laughed.

_But that's kind of it right there. __Now I'm THREE things; Marinette, Ladybug and the Guardian. Being two of those was hard enough to figure out and balance. _

_If Adrien is falling for me... somehow..._ _ME, not Ladybug... __he has the worst timing ever. And if his being with Kagami hurt me, what would his breaking it off with Kagami to be with me do to HER?_

_I can't have that,_ Marinette told herself. _Kagami is... more and more, also a huge part of my life. I am not going to hurt either of them if I have any choice in the matter._

Dropping off the monkey bars, she walked to the swingset and sat down, more to rest than to reenact her childhood.

_I can't make myself just act like a machine,_ thought Marinette, _and cut off my emotions entirely. I need to think with my heart AND my head. But I need to figure out how to do that, and right now... I don't know how._

A wave passed through her body for a moment.

_I'm not shivering because I'm cold,_ Marinette admitted to herself.

* * *

One arm over Ryuko's shoulders, the other grasping her arm wrapped around his waist, Adrien marveled at the sensation of traveling via Miraculous as a normal person for once.

"Wow," he marveled, as a mighty leap carried them over a wide intersection to the facing rooftop.

"Are you all right, Adrien?" asked Ryuko, turning her attention his way.

"Yeah," he confirmed. "This is just... it feels so different as myself."

"If I can make you more comfortable, let me know, please," said Ryuko, slowing her pace slightly.

"You could tell me where we're going, for one thing," replied Adrien. "You're taking us to see Marinette? Are we going to her rooftop?"

"Not there," Ryuko said. "She suggested a park not far from her house. A little more privacy, a little less chance of a father or mother poking their head through her rooftop hatch."

"Ah. I think I know the one," noted Adrien. "And what are we doing when we get there?"

"You're confused about your feelings. I know that I am. I know that she is. All three of us need to talk things out, and this is a way to do it where we won't be interrupted," explained Ryuko. "I am being presumptuous, of course... and I am saying a little prayer that this will go well."

Adrien went silent for a moment. _Marinette seemed... rattled when we talked today, _he thought. _Of course, she was barely standing up, just like me. She looked like she hadn't slept at all recently. If she's that shaky when we get there... I may have to try and call this off for another time. This might be hard enough to talk about; I am not going to push anything on her if she's vulnerable._

_And I'm not going to... well... decide anything, if that's what Kagami has in mind. If this turns into "her or me, choose one," the answer is neither for now. We had just talked about slowing things down, about changing how we look at love... Kagami wouldn't do THAT now, would she?_

_And I still want to talk to Ladybug... so, so much._

_I have no idea what's about to happen here._

He squeezed Ryuko a little tighter as she carried him towards Marinette's neighborhood.

* * *

Quickly, the park came into view, and Adrien saw a young woman sitting on a swing, rocking back and forth slowly, her feet extended out in front of her. She looked up with a smile as they landed, and Adrien's heart jumped a little.

"Hello," Marinette called to them. "I see that I'm not the only one who got a visit today."

"My visit to you was a bit more... graceful," Ryuko chuckled. "And definitely less embarrassing."

"Why is that?" asked Marinette, suppressing a laugh. "Did you crack open his bedroom window, or something?"

"Oh, no. That window was open. Just in case," giggled Ryuko. She shot a glance Adrien's way, and saw him twitch anxiously.

"I... It's not like _that_!" babbled Adrien. "I never thought that Ladybug would... I'd never asked her to... I just thought that maybe, if someday, she'd ever want to visit and talk... just talk! I mean..."

"Uh-huh," grinned Marinette, with a smirk. _Maybe a little presumptuous on your part, Mister? Though if I'd ever thought of that, and had the nerve to do it..._

"You'd never do anything like that, right, Marinette?" asked Ryuko, dryly. "You always keep your balcony hatch locked, right? To keep out strange cats in the night?"

"Actually, no, I... um..." replied Marinette... trailing off as Kagami's implication became clear. "That's... that's _different!_" she sputtered out.

Adrien marveled at Marinette's sudden radiance. _That's a shade of red I've never seen her turn before. She could be the stage lighting system at Kitty Section's next gig!_

_She knows that Chat Noir's visits are only friendly, right? I'm sure of that._

Unbidden, the memories of his battle with Weredad fluttered across his mind... as did the _reason for_ that battle. A soft voice telling Chat Noir "I'm in love with you!"... and how sure he'd been that day that his feelings for Ladybug would never waver.

_Whoa._

_I thought we'd reached a good place with that, that those feelings had left as quickly as they'd arrived. She's never ventured anything towards me since. Were there... things left unsaid?_

_And if she told me that now... what would I do?_

Adrien looked at Ryuko, helplessly, and she smiled as she took in Marinette's visible discomfort. "Oh, I am not picking on either one of you!" Ryuko announced. "If I thought that someone might come pay _me_ a friendly visit, I would leave my window open a crack, too. Without any doubt."

_And I'm NOT trying to embarrass either of you,_ she thought with a grin. _Just making sure that we begin this on even ground._

Marinette looked at Adrien, each taking in the other's state of embarrassment... and both broke out into laughter.

"All right, so we each have interesting friends," grinned Marinette. "Okay. So..."

"Longg... Open sky," declared Ryuko. As she transformed back to Kagami, she said, "Yes, she already knew. You two are the only ones I've told directly..." in Adrien's direction.

"That makes sense," Adrien confirmed. "I know that I'd trust Marinette with anything."

"So, Kagami... you have to have had a reason for bringing us together," Marinette interjected, trying not to melt. "What's on your mind?"

"Come on over here, you two," she gestured, pointing to a small spinning wheel a short distance away. "Let's sit over there, so we can all face each other. The three of us need to talk."

The friends moved over to the roundabout, forming a triangle with the positions they chose to sit at.

The tension in the air was thick enough to put all three of them on edge.

* * *

"First off," Kagami began, "I want to make it clear that I am not _dragging_ either of you into this. I'm not transforming with a Miraculous, throwing you over my shoulder and dumping you here. I asked you each to come, and you did; if either of you gets uncomfortable and wants to stop, we can stop. Agreed?"

Both Adrien and Marinette nodded their assent.

"I asked you here... because the three of us have a lot of unresolved issues that I think we need to talk about. Relationship issues. Because I think that all three of us are walking on eggshells around each other, going crazy trying not to hurt each other," said Kagami. "And I think that if we are direct about these things, if we talk them out like this, we stand a chance of avoiding a lot of pain in the future."

"Can you explain what you mean?" asked Adrien. "Just so that we're all on the same page."

"I mean that I have very strong feelings for you, Adrien. Enough that I declared us 'made for each other.' That I pushed you very hard to be my boyfriend... my first boyfriend ever. And even while I did that, I was frightened that I would hurt Marinette by doing so," Kagami ventured, "because I knew that she had been in love with you for a very long time."

"Y-you knew?" Adrien asked. Marinette's eyes screamed out a similar question.

"One look at you, Marinette, the first time the three of us were together that day at the skating rink, and it was obvious," smiled Kagami in her direction. "So much that I did something that I never do; I hesitated. I gave you room to make your move, if you were going to. And now that I've gotten to know you much better... I know how hard that you tried."

Adrien looked in Marinette's direction. Her eyes were pointed at her lap, and she was silent.

"And Adrien... _you_ were very conflicted when I pushed you to decide," continued Kagami. "Because your heart was somewhere else. Because you had feelings for Ladybug... feelings that were far more authentic than I gave you credit for at first."

That snapped Marinette's head upwards again. "In what way?" she asked. "I mean... I don't want to _pry_, if you're not comfortable, but I'm just... really curious..." she stammered.

"Marinette," Kagami asked quietly, "Think back to the first time you felt strong feelings for Adrien. The first time your heart pounded hard, and you knew that he was the one for you. When was that?"

"The second day I knew him. On the steps of the school," replied Marinette. "When he opened up to me and handed me his umbrella. I'd told you about that."

"Did you know him well that day? Had you spent a lot of time getting to know him, doing things with him, talking on the phone, understanding each other better?"

"No... not yet... but I..." Marinette trailed off.

"And yet it felt so _right,_ didn't it?" soothed Kagami. "You had no doubts at all that day, did you?"

A little light bulb went on over Marinette's head... and shone very, very brightly.

"I... oh. _Oh,_" exclaimed Marinette. She looked at Adrien with very apologetic eyes.

"You got to know him better over time, when you had opportunities to be together, a tiny bit at a time. But that didn't make your feelings at the beginning insincere," said Kagami. "Just like my heart swelled the day that _I _met Adrien. Just like his did the day that Ladybug stole his heart away, without even trying."

Adrien watched the two of them, wide-eyed. "Don't... don't pressure her, Kagami," he interjected. "She gave me lots of signs, and I'm the one who missed them."

"I lied to your face, is what I did," whimpered Marinette. "That's why I... why I..."

Adrien went silent, waiting for her to finish.

"...Why I suggested that you and Kagami need to make things right. She was brave, she was honest, she was everything I wasn't, and she deserves that chance," Marinette burst out, trying not to cry.

"Even if I was reaching out to you that way today?" ventured Adrien, very carefully.

"_Especially _if you were!" Marinette cried out. _HOLY CRAP, he WAS,_ her brain shrieked, but she shoved the thought downwards. "Because turning Kagami down to be with _me_ would hurt her so much..."

"...As much as feeling like he turned you down to be with _me_ hurt _you_," Kagami noted. "Because I know it did. Even if you hadn't actually asked him to be yours yet, or at least in a way that was recognized."

Kagami turned back towards Adrien. "So here we are," she declared. "All three of us have strong feelings for each other. We are each terrified that we're going to hurt the other two. And we are all sitting here with our stomachs in a knot because we are desperate to avoid that hurt, and we are pushing each other away from ourselves. Does that sound accurate?"

Marinette and Adrien each looked at Kagami. Neither offered a counterargument.

"And I know that _both of you_ mean so much to me. I cannot afford to lose either of you. I would be horrified if my presence drove a wedge between the two of you, as well! So we can either continue this painful dance, each one of us feeling worse by the day, waiting for an Akuma to come and take us... or we can do something about it."

Kagami paused. "That is what I wish to talk about, and why I brought you two here. Do either of you wish to leave?" she asked.

"N-no," breathed Marinette. "I don't. At this point, I don't think I _could_."

"If you can see a way out of this," Adrien said in a low voice, "I'm all ears."

* * *

Kagami took a deep breath. "I'm very new at this. You both know that. We all are," she noted. "None of us have had a romantic relationship before, and we're all flailing around trying to figure out what that means. Are we agreed on that?"

"Yes," agreed Marinette, and Adrien nodded.

"Good. Because I do not want to feel like I am sitting here lecturing either of you, or making demands. All three of us are equals here," Kagami smiled. "And I would like very much to keep it that way."

"So what are you suggesting?" asked Adrien.

"We are each fourteen or fifteen, correct?" asked Kagami. "We are each diving headfirst into our first potential relationship. We have each been sure that we knew who our one true love was, the person who was made for us, our only possible destiny. And perhaps we each have some reasons now to doubt that... but we are also not looking at those feelings as a _mistake_. Perhaps they did not work out as we had hoped they would... but the feelings are still there, and are still intense."

"Uh-huh," Marinette said. "And your point is?"

"That each of us is guilty of declaring ourselves wholeheartedly 'in love' when we are still figuring out what that even means," ventured Kagami. "That we are not wrong to feel strongly for each other... but that putting so much focus on _one person_, whether it's me, you, you or Ladybug, is straining what all three of _us _mean to each other. It's hurting all of us."

"And how do we fix that?" wondered Adrien.

"I propose... this may be _way _out of line, and I acknowledge that, and either of you are free to disagree... but that we form a pact between us," said Kagami, with tension in her voice. _You will not back out now,_ she told herself.

"Part one is that the three of us are equals. We are each free to date whoever we wish - even if it is another one of us - without jealousy, without hurt feelings, without feeling rejection. That we are not in competition with each other, or anyone else. We will support each other, wherever our feelings lead us, with a smile and no apologies."

"I like the sound of that," murmured Adrien.

"Keep going," Marinette added, not sounding quite as sure.

"I am saying that each of us should make an effort to _keep things light_. To not lock onto one person until we have been actually _dating them_ for quite some time, until we are far closer to that person. To date multiple people, if we care to, and I suggest that we do! Until we are sure," argued Kagami. "That if, let us say, Adrien takes Marinette to the movies, or Marinette goes skating with Luka, or I invite Adrien over for dinner, or Ladybug pays a friendly visit to Adrien's room like I did tonight, or Marinette opens her balcony hatch and Chat Noir steps through..."

Kagami saw both Marinette and Adrien twitch at the last two suggestions, and added swiftly, "I cannot speak for Ladybug or for Chat Noir, obviously. They are not here right now." Smiling, she continued, "But I think that both would agree that neither of them are dating any of the three of us right now. So however they may enter into the equation... whether one of us decides to give Chat Noir a chance, or if Ladybug decides to reconcile with Adrien... none of us should look at the others dating _anyone_ or kissing anyone and declare, 'Oh, they have made their decision, and that's final.'"

"If any of us are dating any time soon - _including each other_ \- this is not True Love. This is much-needed _practice_. This is people who care about each other spending time with each other, and no one has to feel guilty about it. We won't need to 'check in' with each other. We will trust each other. We will remain _close, _no matter what."

She swallowed hard, knowing that her suggestion was quite a bit to take in. "Am I insane, or am I making sense so far?" she asked.

Things were silent for a moment.

* * *

"As far as 'locking onto' one person goes... I am guilty as charged," Adrien began. "And in doing that, I have hurt both of you. And I will apologize over and over, even if both of you have told me that I don't need to."

"You _don't_ need to, Adrien," Marinette said, in a small voice. "It's not your fault if you didn't..."

"...Love you?" Adrien finished her sentence. Without words, Marinette acknowledged that.

"I have never said that I _don't_," he continued, speaking very softly. "And that's part of this whole thing. I was talking with... another friend of mine today... and I described this whole situation. How I have feelings for Kagami, I have feelings for you, I have feelings for Ladybug, and they're all _different!_ They're all unique. But they're all so _intense! _ And I needed to figure out which one of them was love, and I couldn't."

His eyes fell to his own lap. "And my friend told me, 'Who's to say that any of them aren't?' And that blew me away, until I realized that he was right."

Marinette stared at him, her eyes huge. _Whoa,_ she thought. _That's deeper than I think I would've expected from Nino!_

"I have very strong feelings for Ladybug, and I won't apologize for them," Adrien declared. "But I have very strong feelings for Kagami, too; enough that when she asked me to be hers, to give that a try, she broke through and made me _want_ to try. And I have very strong feelings for _you_, Marinette; maybe stronger than you'd realized."

"Do you remember what I said this afternoon," he reminded her, watching her shiver just a little bit. "That I don't know if I'm in love with anyone... but that I do love you, Marinette?"

"Uh-huh," Marinette agreed, her voice quivering.

"I meant every word of that," Adrien smiled. "I do. And I want to figure out what that means with you. But I have much that is unresolved with Kagami, too." He turned in Kagami's direction. "What I did with you... starting and stopping, raising your hopes and then dashing them... that was terribly unfair. I'm aware that what I did hurt you enough that we can't just... pick up where we left off," he acknowledged, "but I was afraid that you'd never want to speak to me again. And since you do... if there is more to our story... I'd like to find out with you what it is."

He sighed, heavily. "And as for Ladybug... I have no idea where that will lead. I know that she's not happy with me. I know that she has good reason not to be."

"Does she?" asked Marinette, tentatively. "I mean... just like you had no idea how I felt about you, she had no idea that you felt so strongly for her. At l-least, I don't think she did, from wh-what I've heard."

"I need to talk to her. I don't know when I'll be able to; she's Ladybug, you know?" Adrien said. "She comes and goes as she pleases. If she wants to see me, she'll make that happen. But I caused _her_ pain by hurting her friends, from what I've been told. I want to apologize, and to heal what I can between us."

"And if Ladybug suddenly sees the light, and she wants to date you?" Marinette ventured, with a hint of a smile. "What would you do then, Adrien?"

He swallowed hard, but maintained his composure. "If we all agree to this pact tonight... I will tell her that I'm interested, but that I want to keep things light. That there are other people in my life, and that while I would dearly love to get to know her better and date her... I made a promise to two amazing girls," he intoned.

Marinette watched him carefully. _He is serious,_ she decided. _He really is._

"And what about you, Marinette? Are you in?" asked Kagami, holding her breath a little.

* * *

"I am... debating that," Marinette admitted. "I think that I want to be. But right now... it's myself that I'm not sure of, not either of you."

"Can you tell us why you're feeling that way?" asked Adrien. "Is there something we can do to help?"

"Not... really," evaded Marinette. "I'm still kind of... wrapping my head around the idea of casual dating."

"It would not be _entirely _casual. I do not suggest that we throw ourselves at people indiscriminately," Kagami noted. "For instance... Adrien is the only boy I've ever kissed. I cannot imagine kissing someone for whom I did not have very strong feelings. And we were kissing... so that meant _love_, right? But at the same time... I am learning that there are degrees to everything." She grinned, then added, "Allow me to demonstrate."

Looking over at Adrien, she asked, "Lean forward towards me, please."

He did, looking puzzled... and Kagami leaned forward and laid a kiss squarely on his lips.

"_Um..._" Marinette gasped.

"Adrien..." Kagami asked, "I enjoyed that. I think that you did, too. But did that change things between us? Are we now in love?"

"I... uh... no, I don't think so," stammered Adrien.

"Exactly," said Kagami. "Now, Marinette... I would very much like for you to lean in and kiss Adrien, please. Just like I did."

"_What?"_

"I want to prove a point," Kagami pleaded. "I know that you've wanted to do this for a long time."

Adrien, for his part, looked a bit stunned but continued to lean into the center of the triangle. He looked at Marinette with soft eyes and a smile. "I'm game if you are," he persuaded her.

Slowly, Marinette leaned in most of the way, her eyes closed. "This is _so_ not how I pictured this..." she muttered.

"It's up to you," Adrien said. "I won't force y-"

A soft and gentle kiss interrupted his sentence for several seconds.

* * *

"I am guessing that you liked that," whispered Kagami as Marinette opened her eyes.

"Y-yeah," she smiled, breathlessly. "I did."

"But, again... it didn't change anything dramatically, did it?" Kagami asked. "We are all still what we were to each other?"

"Yes... but..." Marinette stammered. "I'm not sure what you..."

"Close your eyes again, please," said Kagami, nervously.

_One true, fearless stroke, _she thought.

"O-okay," Marinette replied. She closed her eyes... and, suddenly, she was being kissed again.

Soft, sweet and gentle... but somehow _different._

Her eyes flew open...

* * *

_"W-wait!_" Marinette exclaimed, jerking backwards. "What was _that?"_

"A kiss," Kagami answered, visibly nervous. "The same as what we shared with Adrien. Now, _that_ didn't change your life, now, did it?"

Marinette was silent for a moment. In his own astonishment, Adrien looked like a stepped-on frog.

"...Can we vote on that?" Marinette managed, finally. "I've never... I'm not... I'm _not!" _she gasped. "I think I would know if I was," she added, more quietly.

"I am not suggesting that you are," quivered Kagami. "But as I said, I would not kiss someone for whom I did not have very strong feelings. I don't know what it is, either. But it's _there."_

Facing Marinette's shocked expression, she continued, "It does not have to be a... thing. No one needs to call it by any particular name. It was simply a kiss. But if I did not demonstrate how much you astound me, amaze me, delight me... I would be lying to you, and I never want to do that. And if I have offended you... I understand, and I apologize."

* * *

_THAT just happened,_ thought Marinette. _I never would have imagined that... that... _

_...um..._

_...that I could be kissed by someone? That's really all that happened just now. Don't overreact! Even if... uh... wow._

_Trust Kagami to be the brave one who can take chances, _she marveled. _That took a LOT of guts for her to do._

_This whole meeting was bold like that, and we needed it. I really think that the three of us became a lot closer tonight... _

_...but, WOW, that was a closeness I didn't expect just now!_

_I..._

Her thoughts wandered as she watched Kagami's anxious face and Adrien's _very_ surprised one.

_It's not like there's anything... WRONG about that kind of thing. Juleka and Rose don't put a lot of names on what they have together... but it's adorable to watch. And no one blinks an eye._

_And that wasn't, like, a confession of true love. More like a..._

_...sincere kiss. That's all that it was, wasn't it?_

_And it _wasn't_ awful. _

_Pretty nice, actually._

_Am I really... even considering..._

* * *

"Marinette?" breathed Adrien, casting a startled glance Kagami's way as he did so. "Are you all right?"

"I... think so," she replied, slowly. "That was... unexpected. But not unpleasant."

At her words, Kagami seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. "I crossed a line there, Marinette," she apologized. "But there was a reason behind what I did. Are you okay with that?"

"I, um..." said Marinette, gathering what thoughts she could. "I can't say that my brain's working. For some odd reason."

"You are going through a lot right now. More than I can say out loud," Kagami declared, drawing a puzzled look from Adrien for a moment. "But this is what I am saying, and what Adrien is also saying with what just happened; you do not have to go through any of it _alone._ Whether the three of us are close friends, or something more in any combination, I know we will _both_ be by your side. And you get to help us decide what that means."

"Yeah... I want that, too," smiled Adrien. "I don't know what she was referring to by some of that... but I know that whatever you need me to be... I want to be there, Marinette. I _need_ to be. And we don't have to decide what that is right now. Let's take our time and each see what makes sense for us to do."

"You are both so..." Marinette smiled back, bashfully. She took a long moment to gather her thoughts.

"I think... I think I need to test the theory a bit more to decide," she ventured, finally.

"Oh?" asked Kagami. "By kissing Adrien or kissing me?"

Marinette closed her eyes and gathered her willpower. _I cannot believe that I am saying this word out loud, _she told herself...

"Both."

* * *

Next time:

* NOW what?


End file.
